Firebase Ghost
by Feriwan
Summary: A team consisting of a turian, an asari, a krogan and 2 humans are given a mission on Benning. It starts out horribly, but how will it turn out? Based on ME3 multiplayer. rated T for language and violence (but its not REALLY violent, just some combat and stuff). COMPLETE (yay!)
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mass Effect yada, yada, yada.**

**So here's my next story, sort of based on ME3 multiplayer. Yeah, maybe it might seem like a bad inspiration, but at least give it a try. I sort of want to take some liberties, of course, and not make it look like a multiplayer match, but more like what they really would be in the ME-universe.**

* * *

Captain Stevenson looked over his squad for the thousandth time. So far, they had been on two other missions together. The aliens weren't so bad when it came to a fight, but he still preferred Alliance military. But that's why Staff Lieutenant Woods was here. Her skills would be crucial for their coming mission. And he had to make sure nothing went wrong.

He went to check on the shuttle pilot, before giving his final pre-mission recap.

"How are we doing?"

"Five minutes out."

"Is there any trouble spotted?"

"No. Not yet."

"Well, keep me posted."

"Will do."

He was still a little worried. This was their new pilot. Apparently, not only new to them, but he was also new to active duty. But when the galaxy has gone to shit, you don't usually have time to train your soldiers. Talking about untrained soldiers…

"Listen up!  
As you all know, this is going to be a dangerous mission. We have to get in, rendezvous with the resistance and shut down the two reaper devices. We still have no intel on them, and they may have indoctrination capabilities, so we'll have to be careful and not take any chances. I'm especially looking at you, Motch!"

The krogan said nothing, but stared him strait in the eye. He didn't expect him to be ashamed, but he hoped he could at least talk some sense into him. Heh, talk some sense into a krogan, yeah right.

"This will be our toughest mission yet. But it's nothing we can't handle. We're about four-"

"Sir! We've got trouble!"

Shit, trouble for an inexperienced pilot was not a good thing.

"Soldiers, get seated and strapped in! Now!"

As an explosion sounded right behind the shuttle, he hurried to the cockpit. Hopefully it wasn't too bad…

"We have two bogeys on our tail… it seems like harvesters."

…Shit. They haven't even landed and they were running in to problems.

"You think you can shake them? Or shoot them down?"

"Negative. To the shooting, I mean. This Kodiak isn't equipped with mass accelerators. I could maybe shake them, if they don't get through our shields first. I just have to-OH CRAP!"

Captain Stevenson saw another harvester fly right in front of the ship – and stop. They were going too fast to dodge it, and it slammed into the shuttle, stripping away all kinetic barriers and sending a shock that set everything that wasn't nailed down, flying. Seeing as the captain was just standing in the cockpit, he was one of those things. He slammed into the front of the shuttle and then started floating up as the shuttle dropped.

"Pilot! Get us moving!"

"I'm trying, sir, but they – oh no. Oh no, no, no."

Stevenson was able to make out a Harvester in the distance. And he also saw the projectile it fired. Normally, that shouldn't be a problem, but that's if the shields were up. Which they weren't.

Neither the pilot nor the captain had a chance of survival as the cockpit was destroyed by the Harvester's missile.

* * *

**Well, that was short. The next chapters will be longer though, and again, I don't know when they'll be up. Just be patient and.. review!**

**Seriously, I don't know what I'm doing wrong or right, and without reviews it feels like I'm doing everything wrong so... do it. please?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next chapter. Remember, I'm more 'liberal' then the game, for example, a scion is a type of reaper husk, like a brute. They can appear with marauders, cannibals,... but with no collectors in sight. I'm just sayin'.**

**And also, I'll just give you a short character list so you know who's who.**

**Tarnik Volinus = Turian 'ghost infiltrator'**

**Lina T'Mari = Asari 'adept'**

**Urdnot Motch = Krogan 'sentinel/soldier'**

**Ellen Woods = Human 'shadow infiltrator'**

**Captain Randall Stevenson = Human 'N7 destroyer'**

**Remember, it's not exactly like the game. Ellen only has rank N3. OK, now you can read.**

* * *

Lieutenant Ellen Woods sighed inwardly as the captain was going over his pre-mission speech. Of course they knew what to do, they had already been debriefed. But she guessed it couldn't hurt to have a bit of a pep talk.

"This will be our toughest mission yet. But it's nothing we can't handle. We're about four-"

"Sir! We've got trouble!"

The shout from the cockpit made her feel uneasy. The pilot was young and inexperienced, so she was glad her instincts had kicked in when she pulled on her helmet and strapped herself in her seat, even before the captain could tell her.

An explosion rang from behind the shuttle. She hoped the pilot would get them through this. She checked her teammates. Tarnik was sitting next to Lina. Good thing they weren't officially Alliance, because they'd be discharged long ago for fraternization. They were both strapped down, but Motch was having some problems. Despite the dangerous situation, Ellen couldn't help but snicker inwardly as the krogan fumbled with the harness. Eventually he was able to fit in, though Ellen had no idea how.

It seemed just in time, for a few seconds later she heard and 'OH CRAP!' from the cockpit, followed by a crash that had her teeth ringing. Then she felt the shuttle dropping.

There was something horribly wrong. What just happened? Did they get hit? Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse, she heard a metal-screeching explosion as the cockpit was torn off.

Even with her helmet on, it took a few seconds to get her senses back. And then she realized they were going down without a cockpit, let alone pilot. They were probably all going to die, except probably not the krogan, but that didn't mean she could try to survive.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!" she shouted as she put herself in the best position possible for a flying vehicle crash. The shuttle spiraled a few more times before smashing into a glass greenhouse. Despite her best efforts, Ellen blacked out.

* * *

"Human? C'mon little runt, get up!" Before Ellen could react, she got a decent slap in the face.

"Ow!" Ellen opened her eyes and saw Motch standing above her. "You stupid asshole! Human bones aren't as strong as krogan's! I could have you court-martialed!"

"No you can't, you big baby. And it was for your own good. Now get up."

Ellen wanted to argue, but the krogan had a point. He was outside of the Alliance, so she couldn't really get him court martialed. And they had more important things to do now anyway.

She pulled herself up, but a bit too fast. A sharp headache hit her, but considering she was just in a shuttle crash, she counted herself lucky. Looking around, she saw she wasn't in the shuttle – someone must have dragged her out – and also that someone took off her helmet.

She was about to get it, when she thought about the harvesters.

"Wait. Where did they go?"

"Who, they?"

"The harvesters."

"Harvesters?"

Ellen couldn't believe her ears.

"You have to be kidding me… the huge creatures that attacked us!"

"Oh, they left. Probably wouldn't expect me to survive a crash… shows how stupid they are."

Ellen rolled her eyes, went to got her helmet and assess the situation. Motch went over to Tarnik, who was awake and helping Lina wake up as well. Why couldn't she get treatment like that? The shuttle looked relatively okay, for the beating she thought it took. Other than the fact that the cockpit was not there – wait a moment. The cockpit was gone. That meant…

"Tarnik, Motch! Where's the captain, where's the pilot?"

Tarnik just looked at her with a frown on his face and shook his head. Motch had at least enough of a brain to know not to say anything. It was bad enough as it was. Not that Ellen personally knew captain Stevenson or the pilot, but they gave them the best chances of surviving. Without them, they didn't have a leader or an escape route. Not only that, the captain was just transferred to check on her and possibly give her the 4th special ops rank. She had to laugh at that. It was funny how she could think of her salary in such a situation.

"Well, if the captain is gone, we'll need a new leader. I suggest Tarnik."

"Who, me?" Tarnik asked.

"Yeah, he shouldn't be leader. I'm obviously best for the job." Motch interrupted, again being totally oblivious.

"No, you aren't. Tarnik is: he has the most military experience out of all of us. He should know what to do."

"She does have a point." Lina added, getting to her feet. A short silence followed. Then Tarnik spoke again, accepting the new chain of command.

"Well, then, my first order is to get everything we can out of the shuttle. After that, we set a timed charge and get to the resistance rendezvous point. I assume the Alliance doesn't want the enemy to get a hold of one of their shuttles?"

"No, sir!"

"I'll also try to radio Alliance command. Communications are supposedly down, but we should at least try. Everyone get that?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Then let's go! Get any and all equipment you can carry. Preferably before they send ground troops to investigate."

Ellen got in and started taking what she needed: extra thermal clips, explosives, a second sidearm and most importantly, her katana. That was one hell of a weapon. You'd think in times like these, melee weapons were useless, but you'd be wrong. That katana saved her many times, and if they were on a mission behind enemy lines with no extra supplies, any weapon that surpasses shields and doesn't use any type of ammo is a good one.

She made one more check, took some packs of omni-gel and left the shuttle. Once everyone got all the supplies they could carry, Tarnik went in one last time to set the charges. Not to many, they might need some for the reaper devices, but enough to render all remaining equipment useless.

* * *

After they rounded their thousandth corner, her omni-tool notified her the charges went off and destroyed the crash site. She was glad she couldn't hear or see it, that would've attracted attention easily. Not that the latter was really possible. Benning's capital was a real maze and it was hard to keep track of where they were and where they needed to be. What made it worse was that it was a ghost town. All the houses were empty, no one was around and it was too quiet.

"It's time to do another check. Wait here." Tarnik suddenly said.

"Argh, you aliens are so stupid! If I was leading us, we'd have been at the rendezvous point hours ago!"

Tarnik ignored him and went to the service ladder they just passed. Hopefully he'd get a good view and get them to the resistance warehouse soon. As for Motch, Ellen just wished he'd shut up.

"What's your problem with him? He's doing the best he can and we haven't had to backtrack at all!"

"You aliens are just so weak. And you talk too much. You're so annoying that you're getting on my redundant system's nerves! I don't even remember why I'm doing this job."

"You were caught assaulting a human for no apparent reason, and the Alliance offered amnesty and payment if you would go on these missions."

"Oh, yeah. Heh, that _was_ pretty fun. Still doesn't change the fact that you aliens are puny and annoying, or that I should be the leader."

"Fun?! You beat a man half to death and call it fun?"

"Please, Ellen, Motch, stop this!" Lina interrupted.

"No! I have had it with this krogan! He has got to learn some respect!"

"Respect? An insect like you? Yeah right!"

"Guys, I don't think that you should-"

"Stay out of this Lina. This is between Motch and me. If he doesn't shape up, I'll…"

"You'll what? Try to hit me?"

"That does it, I'm-"

"ENOUGH!"

During the argument, Ellen didn't even notice Tarnik come back. But here he was, giving both her and Motch a death stare.

"We have enough enemies without you two attacking each other. Now when I order you to stay focused on the mission and not antagonize each other, I expect you to listen. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir." Ellen said.

Looking over at Motch, she saw he didn't say anything yet. He was just looking at his feet, not willing to give up the fact he wasn't in charge. But apparently, Tarnik wouldn't take that as an answer. He moved in and slammed Motch against a nearby support pylon.

"I said: do I make myself clear?" his voice now eerily quiet.

"Yeah." Motch said as he pushed Tarnik back. "Now get off my hump".

And with that the krogan began walking down one of the big streets.

"Please tell me that's the right direction. I don't think he'd come with us if it weren't." Lina asked quiet enough so Motch couldn't hear.

"Yeah, it is. C'mon, let's go."

And with that the three went to catch up with the krogan.

About half an hour later, they arrived at the rendezvous point. It was a huge warehouse complex, only accessible through a retractable bridge. As with all the other buildings they had passed, it too was empty.

"Not that we weren't expecting this, but where's the resistance?" Ellen asked

"I don't know. They can't just be out on a mission. There's something wrong here." Tarnik said, then pausing to decide what to say next.

"The complex is pretty big. I think it's best to split up. Let's go in groups of two. I'll go with Lina and Motch…. No, actually, Motch'll come with me. Lina, you're with Woods."

Everyone nodded in agreement, Ellen all too happy that she wasn't paired with the krogan.

"We need to find out what happened. Keep your eyes open for any clues. My team will search floors 1 and 2. You search floors 3 and 4. Also, look for any usable supplies. This was their base, if they had to leave without warning, then they couldn't have moved everything. If they were attacked… well, just watch your backs and stay in constant radio contact."

"Yes sir!"

"Soldiers, you have your orders. Move out!"

Since the shuttle crash, Benning's sun had gone almost completely under the horizon. During their walk it had gone from above the buildings to between the openings and chasms and now it was getting very dark. Which was a problem, because the settlement's power had been cut. Ellen new it would be dark inside, and although they all had military-grade lights and night vision, she didn't want to take chances. She thought a warehouse-complex like this would have a generator, but when she tried to access the complex' network with her omni-tool, there wasn't any line.

"Tarnik, the power is down and it's pretty dark. I just tried accessing their network, but nothings online. If they have a generator, it would probably be on the lower levels. Try to find if they have one and start it up. I don't want anything jumping from the shadows."

"Good idea, I'll do that ASAP."

"Until then: Lina, turn on your flashlight!"

There were two small clicks as they both turned on their flashlights which faded back into silence. Ellen really didn't like this. It was way too quiet. The first part of the building for them was a long hallway, full of rooms on each side. All the doors were open, probably an automatic action just before a power outage. They still had to check each room before they could go on looking for survivors, clues or supplies. Or reaper troops. Each time Ellen expected the worst, hoped for the best, but found almost nothing useful. Once or twice there would be some supplies they could use, such as a box of thermal clips. Other times they would find a weapon or armor, not worth the burden of carrying.  
Ellen was just about to search her fourteenth room, when she heard something behind her. She turned as quick as her reflexes allowed her, aimed her pistol and…

"Lina! For God's sake, woman, I almost shot you! Don't you know better than to sneak up on me when I'm just about to scan a room?"

She turned around, not about to quit her job.

"Sorry, Ellen. But Tarnik just signaled that he found a generator and will start it up as soon as he can."

As if on cue, the lights turned on one by one, like a wave of energy rolling through the hallway. Ellen just stood ready for anything that could be awakened, or alerted by the sudden change in brightness. Thankfully, nothing came – yet. Then she got a call – for the whole team – from Tarnik.

"Lina and Woods, when you're done, come down to level 1, in the huge storage room. They have some… nice equipment here."

"Explosives!" Motch suddenly interrupted "Enough to level the whole building and more. The thought of this going off… BOOM, hahahaaaa!"

"Thank you, Motch" Tarnik said with sarcasm. "Let's just finish our jobs then meet there. Let's see what we can salvage and take."

After that, the room scanning went pretty easily. With lights on, Ellen felt much more comfortable and was able to check the rooms at record speed. Everything seemed to be going fine. They finished up and got to the stairway. Now that Ellen thought about it, they hadn't checked the roof. They weren't assigned, but she had a strange feeling she should.

"Lina, you stay here. I'm going to check the roof."

"But, we were only supposed to do floors 3 and 4."

"Yeah, but I've got a bad feeling. You know what? Radio Tarnik, tell him what I'm doing. I won't take long."

Lina seemed to want to argue, but Ellen didn't give her the chance. She dashed up the stairs to check what was up there. When she found what _was_ up there, she didn't know if she would've rather stayed below the roof. She radioed Tarnik immediately.

"She just dashed up there before I-" Lina was still explaining.

"Tarnik! We have a problem. A big problem."

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Dragon's teeth."

"What?"

Dragon's teeth, on the roof. Too many to count. The reapers were here. I don't' think- I think they got the resistance."

"Damnit. I want everyone in the storage room. NOW!"

Ellen broke through the roof door and was with Lina at record speed. They rushed to the storage room even faster. When they got close, Ellen could already hear Motch's annoying voice.

"I don't see why you're worrying. So what if there are a few… what'd you call them? Dragon's trees? Whatever. So what if there are a few on the roof. Like those would scare me. Hah! I say, throw your troops at me anytime!"

"Oh shut up Motch," Ellen said "you talk big, but if I remember correctly, you spent last mission almost blowing us up you were so on edge."

"Woods!" Tarnik interrupted "save your petty arguments for another time. We could be in deep trouble."

"Yes, sir. What's the plan?"

"Plan?" Motch scoffed "I don't need a plan, I just smash everything in sight!"

"Motch! Shut it!" Tarnik commanded "We're going to load up as fast as we can on as much as we can. There are timed and detonation charges. Motch, I think there were some rockets and grenades in the corner. The rest we'll have to leave here."

"And after we finish-"

Ellen's sentence was cut off by a bloodcurdling scream. It was like nothing she had heard before, and seemed to creep into her very bones. It was coming from everywhere and turned her blood into ice. Whatever it was, was something horrible. And according to the alliance codex, she could think of only one thing: Banshees.  
Motch was the first one to break the following silence.

"What _was_ that?"

"Banshees." Tarnik replied "Very dangerous. We need to get out of here now. Get anything you can. Double time!"

Ellen never felt so exhilarated and scared at the same time. Sure she had been on missions before, but they had been relatively low-risk and they never went as bad as this one. And that banshee scream would haunt her for nights to come. That is, if there would be any nights to come for her. She strapped an explosive to her suit, but explosives had never really been her thing. So instead, she accessed the complex' network to find out what she could. Her best bet was to hack into the security camera feed. It was bad. On the streets leading to the main entrance was an enormous reaper force, with many husk-creatures she had never actually seen before. It was obvious they couldn't get out the way they came in.

"Tarnik! You need to see this." She said, sending the footage to his omni-tool.

"Spirits, they're already closing in. And this generator's a flare as to where we are. Anyone feel like fighting through this hoard?"

"I'm not sure if that's totally necessary. When I was up top, I think I saw something… Let me work for a moment."

Using her omni-tool, she used her best speed hacking skills, and then checked the roof for what she was looking for.

"Here it is! A maintenance bridge on the roof. Should I open it?" She asked as she locked the main door.

"Not yet. Try to sync it up to when we get there. We don't want to tell them our escape plan. Everyone have their stuff? We have to get out, _now_."

"But what about the leftover explosives?"

Tarnik took his omni-tool and made something the size of his hand. When he turned around, Ellen saw it was a remote detonator.

"The reapers will have a nice surprise waiting for them."

They all rushed out the storage room – even Motch seemed to be a bit scared. Looking at her omni-tool every other step, Ellen calculated it would take 30 seconds to totally open the bridge, which would cover a distance of 30 meters. That meant she probably had to open it _now_. Almost tripping up the stairs, she started the mechanism. She checked the cameras again and her heart nearly stopped. The troops were already getting through the main door. Not only that, but husks were climbing up the walls to the roof and there were troop ships flying overhead, probably ready to drop even more troops on the roof. Sadly, there were either no roof cameras or they were off line. Either way, she had no way of finding out what was already actually up there.

"Be ready to meet heavy resistance on the roof. Just get to the bridge, which is on the South side and across it as fast as you can. After that, we'll have to outrun the reapers and take down as many as we can."

"That's good." Tarnik continued Ellen's train of thought "I hope the explosion will be enough to take out quite a few reaper troops while distracting others. I'll detonate it once we're all clear. I don't think they know our exact position, so we might just get a small element of surprise when we go through that door."

Ellen saw they had already reached the roof exit. Like before, she got a bad feeling. Not that she could do anything about it.

"Uhh, Tarnik? The bridge is almost open."

"Well then everyone, get your weapons ready. Seeing the complexity of the situation, I might as well say it's been an honor serving with you."

Now Ellen's heart was really pounding, sending adrenaline through her body and getting her ready for the coming fight _and_ flight. She grabbed her Carnifex, but that wasn't what she would primarily be using. Taking the katana off her back, she activated the high-temperature mode. With that on, she could slice through most things like butter. Looking over, she saw Tarnik had his modified Mattock, Lina with one of her dual SMG's and Motch prepping his rocket launcher. She hoped this would end well.

"Soldiers, good luck."

And with that, Tarnik opened the door and all hell broke loose.  
A husk stood right in front of them, seemingly about to have come in. It was immediately killed by a headshot from Tarnik. Ellen rushed out the door to see way too many reaper troops between her and the bridge. Although it wasn't much better, she was still glad there were only humanoid troops. She ran up shooting at a cannibal to her left then cloaked before she could see if it was down. Running up silently to a Marauder, she stabbed him in the chest and shot him point-blank, bypassing any shields he had. Quickly rolling over it, she then threw the corpse at a nearby husk. Lina caught her eye, and she seemed to be in trouble. Normally, she would have guessed Tarnik was at her side, but she didn't have time to find out where he was. She cloaked again and headed to the group of husks and cannibals that were closing in on Lina.  
She wouldn't use her gun for this group – her katana was all she needed. Using one of the most basic forms, she decapitated the first husk. Then she moved to roaring seas, slicing up more cannibals. By now the rest of the group noticed her, but the closest couldn't dodge her next strike. As in training, she then moved to coiled viper to take out the ones behind her, finishing up with a graceful, diving hawk to take out the last one.

"C'mon, Lina, get to the bridge!"

Lina threw two marauders of the edge and took off to the bridge. Ellen wanted to go too, but then saw a Harvester right above her dropping something big. She had just enough time to dive out of the way as it smashed down behind her. A low, evil growl told her it was a brute.  
Turning around and stepping back, the brute locked eyes with her. The brute was about to charge, but Ellen had a plan. To antagonize the brute enough to actually start his charge, Ellen fired a few rounds at his head. Who knows, it might even stun him or something. But the brute just shook it off, reared back and then threw his body at Ellen. Before the one ton beast could get close, Ellen cloaked – God, she was glad she knew how to use it right – and as the brute kept running forward, she jumped up and landed on its shoulder. Before it could suddenly stop and throw her off, she lodged her katana along his neck, hoping to sever some vital structure. Sadly, she didn't hit anything big enough to stop it as it stopped, then started bucking like a wild bull. Ellen did her best to hold on, until she heard someone say "Watch out!" She was just able to see Motch fire a rocket at the brute. Dislodging the sword, she had just enough time and luck to launch herself up out of the soon-to-be blast zone of the incoming rocket. But she didn't get far away enough, for the blast stripped away all her shields. She started coming back down and was able to roll to break her fall. Getting back up, she saw the situation was getting worse. It seemed that even _more_ troops had gotten on the roof since the start, and just hovering over the side of the building was a praetorian.

"Get across the bridge!" She shouted, now focusing only on crossing to the other side, which proved easier said than done. Getting to the bridge was easy- she only needed to cloak and almost nothing bothered her. But once she was there, her cloak switched off and the trouble began. Drawing her katana again, she focused on the three cannibals shooting at Motch, who was running across the bridge, not helping anyone like the coward he was. She came up behind one and sliced of its gun-hand, temporarily stunning it. Quickly advancing, she sliced the next cannibal in half. She then turned to kick the last cannibal off the side of the bridge, but it grabbed her foot with stunning reflexes. She tried to shake free, but it slammed her into the ground, knocking her gun and katana to the side. It aimed its gun-arm at her, ready to fire. The first few shots were easily stopped by her shields, but they would only last for about 2 seconds. She thought she was done for – she couldn't get her gun or katana in time without the cannibals shooting her to shreds.  
Just as the cannibal was going to take its final shots, it froze with a glowing white barrier around it. Looking to her left, she saw what caused it.

"Lina! Thanks for the assist!"

Grabbing her katana, she finished the job. Then she and Lina took off over the rest of the bridge. Something felt wrong. There were no more troops shooting at them, where did they all go? They couldn't have….

"Tarnik, where are you?" She radioed.

No response. She tried again.

"Tarnik, come in!"

Again, nothing. She got to the other side of the bridge with Lina looking worried at her. They turned around to see what was happening. It wasn't good. All of the remaining troops that were on the roof were all moving to the further side, following Tarnik. Suddenly they got radioed.

"KZZZRST- The bri- KRRSZZT"

"What? Tarnik, do you read me?"

"Close – KZZSRT – bridge!"

"I think he wants us to close the bridge." Ellen said.

"But you'll be trapped!" Lina radioed, starting to panic.

" - leading them around – KRRRZT – my jet – KZZT – to escape – KRZZST – west buildings!"

"We have to close the bridge." Ellen said. Some of the husks had seen them standing and started coming to the bridge.

"But, we can't! Tarnik, he'll… he'll-"

"You heard him, he can jet across. There's no time to argue!" And with that Ellen ordered the clos command from her omni-tool. All they could do now was watch.  
Tarnik was doing a good job at leading the reapers away, but he seemed to be making it worse for himself. The roof was big and had plenty of crates to hide behind, but there were just too many reaper troops. Tarnik did take down a few husks, but everyone knew that wouldn't be enough. Then he cloaked.

"Everyone, get out of here! I'm going to blow the complex!"

"What? You'll be killed!"

"I'll be fine! Now go!"

Motch turned around right away, but Ellen called him back. They wouldn't just leave him if they could help it. Tarnik's cloak wore off and they spotted him running to the buildings on the west of the complex. The problem was that the reaper troops saw him to, with the praetorian taking the lead.

"Tarnik, watch out!" Lina shouted in her radio, as the praetorian coiled itself up to pounce. The warning came just in time. Tarnik was just able to leap to the side, the praetorian narrowly missing him. Then he kept on running to the edge, but the praetorian was not so easily defeated. It planted its feet on the ground and made itself tall.

"It's going to shoot!" Ellen radioed.

But this time, Tarnik didn't have time to dodge. He ran to the edge, jumped off and then everything happened at once.  
Ellen received a signal that meant the bombs would go off and the praetorian fired its lasers. The lasers hit Tarnik's side as the building exploded in an enormous fireball. Tarnik's jets started failing and he plummeted to the chasm below.

"Tarnik!" Lina shouted.

He fell with still some of his thrusters working, but not enough. Then he slammed into a wall, fell downwards and just grabbed hold of a railing. Ellen winced, and looked over at the remains of the complex. The whole building was still standing, if just barely. The praetorian looked wounded, but was getting up again. It then made a deafening roar, but that was its downfall. The weakened building didn't need any more incentive and collapsed into the depths below, bringing all reaper troops inside and on along with it. But their worries weren't gone. A few levels above where Tarnik was holding on, were more reaper troops, along with the banshee they heard earlier. Not only that, but what seemed like harvesters carrying more troops were coming in. Then Tarnik called them again.

"You have to go."

"We can't! There are troops above you, there's even a banshee!" Lina protested.

"Leave me! That's an order. Lina, I can take care of myself. I promise."

"Lina, we have to go. Harvesters are coming in."

It was obvious Lina wouldn't go, but then Motch picked her up like a sack of potatoes and started off. Ellen didn't have much of a choice but to follow him. Away from the banshee, away from the ruined warehouse complex, away from Tarnik.

* * *

**Well, that was it! Hoped you liked it. Sorry it took so long, I just had a lot of schoolwork and other stuff. But hey, this is a super long chapter (at least for me). It's even longer than my first fanfic! Hopefully, the other chapters will also be this length. And as always: please review. Am I doing good? Should I put in more details/dialogues/fights or less? Just want to know how to write right!**

**Also: Shoutout to guest N7scavenger, for being the first person to review one of my stories! Yay!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter's a bit shorter, hope it's still good though.**

**shoutout to: Ragnarok0288, guest A fan, guest mattihew, silentmarine and guest N7 Scavenger! thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

The squishy asari was struggling for him to let her go, but Motch didn't take notice. The damn insects were coming back, along with whatever troops. He knew he should have never accepted that deal. He learned enough times that he should only look out for himself. But he didn't have much choice now, and a few extra hands, even if they were weak, alien hands, could be useful.  
He ran to the edge of the building and then jumped down the one story. He didn't bother to check on the runt behind him, she could get down by herself. And if she couldn't, then she wasn't worth his time. As soon as he hit the ground, he went off in a full out krogan sprint. He just might get away this way, and if anything _did_ get in his way, they would be run over faster than you could say 'blood rage'.

"Motch, slow down! I have a plan!"

It was the annoying human on the radio. He was probably going to regret this, but he stopped and put the asari down.

"What is it?"

"We're about to cross into a new sector. They're all connected by bridges. Together, our omni-tools should be able to power them enough to close them. Now that by itself won't help, since there are harvesters coming that could just drop more troops on the other side. You're the heavy weapons expert, you'll need to shoot them down."

"Wait, what? I kinda missed… well all of it really."

The human sighed audibly over the radio. "Just take your rocket launcher, shoot the winged beasts and meet up at the coordinates I'll send."

"Heh. Sounds like fun."

"Well I just hope you get the job done. Lina, you can meet up with me already."

"What about Tarnik?" the asari asked, "I need to get back to him, or find out something…"

Motch turned off his radio and let the asari leave as he climbed up a ladder to get a better vantage point. Dropping those insects, now there was a fun objective. He got to the roof and prepped his rockets with the best high explosive, armor piercing mods he could find. These 'harvesters' might be insects, but they were probably the biggest and toughest things they would come across. Taking his rocket launcher, he aimed at the horizon. Sure enough, there were plenty of insects, but they didn't really seem focused on him. He had to get their attention if he wanted to take them down.

"Well, I've got enough grenades to spare anyway." He said to himself, as he got an empty-charged grenade from his belt. Setting it to a loud flash bang setting, he lobbed it up in the air and got ready. There was a bright flash – good thing Motch turned his head down – and a bang that the turian could probably have heard, if he was still alive that is. Definitely enough to get the insects' attention.  
Certainly enough, they started coming his way.

"Hehe. Stupid insects." He said to himself, " Why don't you come over here and- UGGUHH!" His sentence was ended by a rather violent cough.  
"Damn. Yeah, you just come over here." He finished, glad no one was around to hear him mess up.  
Looking through the scope, he still felt something scratching deep in his throat. It was annoying, but he couldn't be distracted. He lined up the shot to the first incoming insect and… thump! The feeling of a rocket launch felt good, but it wasn't as glorious as seeing the insect's wing being torn to shreds as it fell into a chasm below. With the next rocket automatically loading, he was ready to fire again. The next one didn't go down as fast, the first shot was merely swallowed by its chest armor. But that just made it better, when he could see its body disintegrate after a second rocket to the face.  
"This is almost too easy!" He said to himself as a third one was taken down. "It's like they aren't even trying!"  
The insects didn't stand a chance, not one had been able to unload its cargo of ground troops.

"You dumb bugs. You are really dropping like insects. Heh. Haha. Hahaa, haa–UGGUUH!"

There was that damn cough again and it felt even worse than last time. Looking down at his launcher, he noticed some orange goo. It was his blood.

"What the he-" His thought was cut off, as one of the insects caught him off guard in a barrage of cannon shots. Staggering back, he heard the sounds of troops dropping… onto the same roof he was.

"DAMN. YOU. BUGS!" He shouted, firing 3 rockets at once at the insect trying the same move as the previous one. It went down in a beautiful fireball, and looking around he noticed that any remaining bugs were retreating. That left only the ground troops, which he felt. They had already gotten up and started shooting at him. The canon barrage from before overloaded his shields, so now the shots were either bouncing off his armor, or bouncing off his bones. That didn't mean he didn't feel them. Folding his rocket launcher up, he turned to face his new enemies. Blowing these up would be a waste, and he wanted to feel their bones snap. He wanted to crush their skulls under his feet, break their bodies in two. They thought they could take him down? Well they were DEAD WRONG!

"RRAAAAARRRGGGH!" The shout was primordial in nature, coming from inside him. He could feel the blood pumping much faster through his body than normal. He was going into a blood rage, for the third time in his life. Hi senses were heightened, except for his feeling. The enemy troops were much clearer, the sounds much louder, but he no longer felt the bullets in his skin. They were in for it now. Laughing to himself, he charged.

* * *

"Uggh, what happened? I felt like I had one too many ryncols. Like that's even possible. Ha- UGUUGH!"  
It all came back in a flash – the mission, the coughing blood, the blood rage…. That's not right. He should be able to remember what happened during his blood rage. This time it was just a black… blob. Again, he looked down at his arms to see more coughed up blood. Damnit. The damn Shaman was right. He had the damn blind rage disease. That only meant he had to find a way back to Tuchanka, fast. If not, then he'd get pretty pissed and go out with a bang. Or more than a bang. Yeah, that would be pretty nice. But Motch still planned on not going out at all. Coughing some more and wiping away the blood, he tried to orient himself. There is… the foot of the ladder to the roof. That means he must've fallen 2 stories! Thank god for his redundant nervous system. _Well, if the insects are gone, I might as well get back to my team_, he thought. Expecting something annoying, he reluctantly tuned back in to their radio channel. It was as he thought.

"Motch?! What the hell! Finally you tune in? You could have let us know you'd turn off your radio! We were almost going to leave you behind! Damnit, man you have to learn to work under the regulations!"

"Ahh, shut up! I turned it back on now ok? Now is there something you little runts need help with, or do I need to listen to you complain some more?"

"Screw you." The human mumbled, probably not meant for him. "Just rendezvous at these coordinates. We'll need help closing the main bridge."

"Yeah, yeah. And we need to – UGGUGH – need to have a chat anyway."

Motch shut off his radio again, not wanting to hear anything the human wanted to say and took off in the direction of the rendezvous. Goddamn everything.

* * *

When Motch arrived at the main bridge, he didn't get the annoying verbal assault he expected. He just got a simple "Sync your omni-tool up." Sometimes aliens could be beyond weird. He connected his omni-tool to the group and asked what was bothering him.

"So… now that Tarnik's gone-" He ignored the loud sob that Lina let out "- we'll need a real leader." He had to pause to cough, trying to hide the blood from the squad. They didn't notice.

"This time, let's choose the real leader: me!"

The human took her helmet off and gave him a blank stare. "You have got to be kidding me."

The asari spoke before Motch could continue. "While you were…out, we already decided that Ellen should take over." Her tone indicated she was still hurt about the turian being left behind. Motch carrying her away probably didn't help.

"That's bullshit! I should take charge!"

"The decision has already been made." The human said.

This wasn't good. Motch had to get off world to Tuchanka. His best bet was to take command so they could finish quickly. But instead the small, ignorant, annoying baby took over. This couldn't be happening. He had to act now or it would be too late. The human was still working on her omni-tool, the asari just looking at the retracting bridge. He couldn't let them just throw his life away!

"RAAARRRGH!" Throwing the asari to the side, he grabbed the human by her throat.

"Now you listen to me and you listen good. I'm the strongest, fittest one around here and I'm going to call the shots." The human was chocking and turning blue, but Motch kept his grip. The asari was slowly getting back up. "I don't care about what the rules are, but when I say something, you better listen to me. Do you understand?"

The human, now completely blue, only managed a little gurgle. The asari was now up begging Motch to let her go. He stared in her eyes another second and flung her across the ground. As soon as he let her go, he had to cough. Then again and again, it got worse and worse. All he could remember was the feeling of his lungs slowly deteriorating and coming out of his throat. Finally it slowed down, only to show him what really came out of his mouth. The ground was covered in a puddle of yellow and orange fluid, meaning that he now wasn't only losing blood but also neuroconductive fluid. That was the first time he was really afraid he wouldn't make it. No! That just meant he had to work harder and faster.

"Motch, are you… are you alright?" The asari asked hesitantly. The human wasn't talking, but she stood massaging her throat looking at him with a mixed expression of disgust and worry.

"I'm fine, so you can get off me." He got up, eager to see if he really had the rights of being a leader.

"Now I say, since this mission has gone to the Void, we should give up on it. Human! I want you to look for the nearest hangar, or anything that might have a ship yet."

"What? You're crazy! We have a mission to do! And it's not like the reapers would leave ships hanging around!"

"I thought we agreed that you'd listen to my commands. Now search for a nearby spaceport or hanger. I'll worry about whether it has ships or not."

Motch could obviously see the human didn't like it, but she had no choice. She turned away and started typing on her omni-tool. Then the asari approached him.

"Motch, I don't know anything about krogan biology, but that's obviously not normal. Are you sure you don't need medical attention?"

_Well of course I need medical attention,_ he thought, _but not like I'm going to let some alien heal me. You know nothing about our ways!_ Instead he replied with "I _am_ fine. That coughing is nothing I can't handle." And he ended with a cough, wiping away the blood. Trying to show that he was feeling normal he said: "See? I'm fine. Now drop it."

"You are not fine! You're-"

"I told you: drop it." He growled, which shut her up.

After an awkward silence, the human spoke again.

"I mapped out all hangers and the spaceport. I guess you'll want to go by them one by one, but as your … self proclaimed tactical advisor, I still say we can complete our mission first."

_Ha! That human had some nerve,_ he thought. As much as he still hated her, he had to admire it. But that didn't change his plan.

"No. We'll go by them one by one until I, uh, _we_, can get offworld." He didn't mention the fact that a one-man ship would be good enough. Even if they did find a big enough vehicle, he'd space them and go to Tuchanka as soon as he could.  
They left in an awkward silence with tension hanging in the air, but Motch didn't give one damn.

* * *

The first few hangers were empty. Cleared out by reapers or civies. Now it was getting really dark and they were going to the spaceport. Motch began to get desperate and irritated at everything.  
The aliens were talking behind his back again. He tried to listen in before, but they made it clear he wasn't allowed to hear. After a few tries, he gave up. They wouldn't be planning against him. They didn't have enough people in the team to take him down anyway! His mind wandered to how he could fight those two. Of course he would never do it, at least not in these circumstances, but that didn't stop him from replaying it each time in his head. _Ahh, the glory –_

"Motch, in front of you!" one of the aliens suddenly shouted. He looked up to see a part krogan monster charging at him. _Finally a worthy opponent. _Bracing himself for impact, the monster slammed into him, pushing him to his back. More enemies appeared, and the aliens had spread out. Maybe they even fled like the cowards they were.  
Getting hit from all sides, he took his chance and charged the monster himself. It anticipated this however, picked him up and threw him away. Motch landed right next to a skinny reaper, and promptly ripped it in two. With more troops coming at him from all sides, he felt his blood pump faster again. _Ha! Another blood rage! Let's just hope that this time I get to remember the glory in battle!_ He thought, just before his memories blacked out.

* * *

**So I'm going on a trip from 1st of April to 7th, without my pc. That means I can't write or update. But after that I'll write as good and fast as I can, because I actually have people reading my story! Sorry, I just never thought that I would write well enough for some people to want to read this.**

**Anyway, if you didn't notice, I change perspective each story. I'm going through all squad members, so a certain Turian's story has to be told yet! That said, I could always go back in time and kill him. But don't worry, I have my story planned out and I'm just trying to confuse you guys.**

**Hope it was interesting to hear a krogan's thoughts (at least, what they are according to me). Making a krogan disease was also fun, and who's going to say it doesn't exist? Only the krogan themselves know about there medical issues (as stated with Grunt's LM in ME2). And if you didn't get it, it's a deadly disease if left untreated.**

**Furthermore: ha, a cliffhanger and I can't update for a while. I know I'm evil. Oh, well, what are you going to do?**

**And just talking in general here, not to any specific person, but here's why I stressed about scions and collectors and stuff. I just didn't want people being like "Oh, there's a praetorian and no collectors. Fake!" I just want it to be as canon as possible. I actually don't think I'll have a scion in my story, let alone collectors. I know they come back in the war, according to lore, but I just don't need them in my story.**

**And also not to anyone in particular, I hope my sentences aren't to confusing this time. I usually just write, and then get to lazy or stubborn to check and correct it.**

**Wow, my author's comments are about as long as the chapter! I'll stop talking (or writing, whatever) now.**


	4. Chapter 4

**_I'm back! I'm gusseing you're so anxious to read, I'll leave my comments at the bottom. Enjoy!_**

* * *

_3 minutes earlier_

"He's acting stranger than usual." Lina said quietly, so that Motch wouldn't hear her.

"I'm guessing it has to do with that cough. Do you know anything about it?"

"No! The krogan don't let any alien know about their biology and diseases if they can help it. Why would I know?" Ellen replied. Realizing she got a little too angry, she added "Sorry. It's just getting strangled seems to work on your nerves."

"It's okay. We'll just need to watch out for him."

"Yeah, right. He only cares about himself. I don't care what he says, we _need_ to finish our mission. We just need to convince him to calm down and not go offworld."

"Don't worry." Lina said, looking up at Motch. "We'll convince-" Then she saw him almost walk into a brute.

"Motch, in front of you!"

Looking to her left and right, she saw husks climb down the walls like insects. _It was an ambush!_

Drawing her pistol, she created a singularity to pull 2 husks off the roof. Jumping to the side, she saw that Ellen was also already on her feet, with her sword and sidearm drawn.

Motch had the brute busy and Ellen just cloaked, so Lina needed to get herself safe. Detonating her singularity with a warp field, she dashed across the street to get inside an open building. It might be tight in there, but she liked to consider close quarters her specialty. Whether it was or not… well, she brought up an extra, self-sustaining barrier just to be sure. She set up a warp field in the doorway. That would slow down the next few things coming through, but she started to feel exhaustion from using too much powerful biotic powers. All asari were born with biotics, but they still had their limits. Not knowing what to do next, she looked around. Maybe… up? A high vantage point might be better, but they had to regroup and get out of this mess. She ran to the next room and found some stairs. Going up, she tried to reach Ellen. No response. _Damnit. What about Motch? _Also nothing._  
_Arriving at the second floor, she saw a marauder shooting from the window. Sneaking up the best she could, she put her pistol to its head and performed an excellent point-blank execution. _Goddess, what has the galaxy come to, for me to think like that?_ She then looked out the window to see what cover she could provide as she tried to reach her squad again, this time with a bit more luck.

"Lina! Where are you?" Ellen asked.

"2nd floor of the West building, trying to provide cover fire." She said, as shot at a cannibal down below.

"OK. I've gone around the corner, to the south, and am under some pressure. If you could help…"

"On it!" Lina replied. She turned to the south side of the building. There was a window, but its mechanical shutters were closed. Without power, there was only one other way to open it. She weakened the shutters with a warp, then shattered it with a powerful shockwave.

She checked over the balcony to see what she could do and was met with a flash of light. Jumping back, she realized she was shot at! _Thank the goddess for kinetic barriers._ Not caring if her shields were back up, she went to go check again, if not a bit more careful. Ellen was in trouble and she had to help any way she could. Sending out a singularity that would end up near the shooter, she looked through the broken shutters again – and disabled her singularity just in time.

"Thanks for the distraction." Ellen radioed. She was standing on the street, with 2 dead cannibals and a dead marauder around her.

"You're welcome." Ellen was lucky that Lina was the distraction. Anyone else would've probably been pissed, but she knew something like that couldn't be planned. She wouldn't blame Ellen for something that wasn't her fault.

"So, are we going to retreat? They seem to have gotten the jump on us, and I don't know how many there are." Lina asked.

"No. We can't afford to get separated. Anyway, I think Motch went into a blood rage; something the reapers weren't expecting. We might get through this. But if we lose track of each other… the reapers will surely get us, one by one. But just stay clear of Motch."

"Are you sure? You're taking a big risk."

"I have no lack of confidence in our skills. And no matter what Motch does, I'm the true leader of our group, OK?"

Lina hesitated for a moment. "OK… wait, where are the rest of the reapers?"

"Motch." Ellen said, just as Lina thought the same thing.

She ran back to the east side of the building. Looking out the window, she saw a bunch of reapers on Motch, and even more surrounding him. Hoping Motch would sustain the impact, she sent out another shockwave to get the husks off him. While it did get them off Motch, her victory was short lived. The shockwave knocked Motch – who clearly wasn't in normal conditions – to the ground, and also gained her the attention of the other reaper troops. Again, she was able to pull back through the window before her shields were decimated.

But apparently, the forces of the universe just didn't like her that day. Standing right behind her was a husk, which she was able to dispatch with her biotics just in time. Behind that was a cannibal, which raised its cannon-arm ready to shoot. Before it could, she rolled to the side, taking out her sidearm and shooting it a few times until it fell to the ground. After that, she didn't see anything, but their presence meant her biotic field had failed. That, or they found another way in. Either way, any amount of reaper troops could be coming yet. She had to get out. But then she'd be in the mess on the streets, and she did not want to get overwhelmed by husks again. Once in a lifetime was already one time too many. That left only one option: the window. She could probably make the jump, if she used her biotics. That still left the problem of the troops down below; they would have a clear shot.  
Hearing footsteps coming toward her, she didn't have much time left. Fumbling through her pack, she got all explosives she took from the warehouse. She didn't have time to sort them now, so she took the biggest one, primed it, threw all on the ground, took a step back… then ran forward and dove through the window, biotically lowering her mass.  
Lucky, Motch and Lina had been busy. The cannibals and marauders down below were too distracted to shoot her as she gently sailed to the other side. Keeping her body in an arrow, she propelled herself biotically through the other window, shattering the glass and getting a rougher landing then she expected.  
She took cover under the windowsill and picked out a glass shard form her shoulder. There might've been more, but she couldn't feel them right now. Not that she had the time to deal with them, as reaper troops were swarming the room she was in just moments ago.

"Ellen, Motch, if you can hear me, then watch out. The West building is about to blow."

Giving them 3 seconds to take cover, she detonated the explosives.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…_

That must've been more explosives than she thought. Her ears were ringing so loudly she was surprised that waterfalls of blood weren't pouring out. Hearing a small thump, she checked outside again.  
_That was a small thump? The whole building had collapsed!_  
The good news was that it seemed to take a lot of reaper troops down with it. But the bad news was she had no idea where Ellen or Motch were.

"By the Godess! Ellen, Motch, is anyone on this frequency?" She still couldn't hear her own voice. Shaking, she set her translator to transcribe any incoming messages. That might have been a bit too much. Thankfully, a reply came a few seconds later.

_[Ellen]: Was that you? What in the world did you do?_

"I might have… biotically primed all my explosives."

_[Ellen]: You have to be more careful! Not to mention that's another flare for the reapers!_

"I'm really sorry, but I'm so glad you're okay. What about Motch?"

_[Ellen]: He's still raging and tearing up the remaining forces. You did put a dent in them._

"Hm, but was it worth it? I just hope we get out alive."

_[Ellen]: Don't worry. I think the rest are either retreating or getting demolished by Motch. We'll get together by him. He won't be hard to find._

"Wait. The reapers are retreating?"

_[Ellen]: Yeah, I don't get it either. Probably just so they can get us later_

"Maybe. I'll see you at Motch."

_[Ellen]: OK._

Before Lina set out, she started checking herself for other glass shards. She carefully took out the biggest ones, also applying medigel. She wasn't sure if that was necessary, but you could never be too safe. She thought she was getting a bit of her hearing back, but then she was radioed again and couldn't make out was said. She checked her transcription again.

_[Ellen]: Come quick! Motch won't stand down!_

As soon as she read half the communication, she sped off, taking multiple steps at a time. She exited the building, but then didn't know what to do. _Darn, Ellen, why couldn't you just give coordinates? Where are you?  
_As if the goddess was listening, the ringing in her ears died down enough to hear krogan shouts coming from a block or two away. She took off in that direction, hoping she wasn't too late._ What does Ellen mean, he won't stand down?Against her, surely. Did he find out- no, that can't be. What's happening?_

She rounded the last corner to find the situation was pretty bad. The only reapers that she saw were on the ground, probably beaten to death by Motch. But he and Ellen were locked in battle, with Motch in his blood rage. It didn't look good for Ellen, but Lina didn't know what to do, other than watch. She could hardly attack a squad mate. Besides, getting in between them might be dangerous for one or all of them. All she could do was wait till the right moment, or until Ellen told her exactly how to help.  
They were locked in a fierce battle. Motch was really going full out, or so it seemed. _Why is he doing this?_ He swung at Ellen time after time, using thankfully only his body and none of the heavy weapons strapped to his back. Ellen was able to deflect each blow with her sword, if just barely. Lina was surprised such a thin sword could block a krogan, but Ellen seemed to be diverting the force of each blow Motch brought. It was almost as if they were doing some sort of weird dance. Well, maybe only Ellen, Motch was swinging his arms like crazy. Suddenly, somehow, Motch disarmed Ellen and almost crunched her sword. He pushed her back further, separating her from her sword.  
Maybe Lina could pick it up for her? Did Ellen even know Lina was there? Quietly, but still focused on Ellen and Motch, she moved towards the sword. Now Ellen was doing all she could to dodge every attack Motch tried. She was just able to keep it up, when she made a surprised gesture in Lina's direction. _No! That was too close._ Motch had nearly taken Ellen's head off. Now she probably knew Lina was here. She grabbed the sword and threw it to Ellen, who still seemed surprised Lina was there. But, as it turned out, Lina would be the surprised one.  
A husk jumped on her back, pinning her to the ground. Lina had been so focused on the fight, she didn't notice the leftover reaper forces. She fought back, squirming and trying to turn around. Somehow, she got turned on her back, and for the second time that long day, she was holding a husks head back so that it wouldn't bite her or whatever they do. It tried to get at her, but she held its neck firmly with one hand, and charged a biotic buildup in the other. Then she slammed her fist into its gut sending its pieces flying in a huge arc. She got up to see Ellen on the ground, with Motch hanging over her. He would've probably been closer, but Ellen was just able to hold him back with her sword. But that wasn't the worst part. A whole wave of reaper troops was coming up behind them. Ellen couldn't move, and Motch didn't see them, so it was up to Lina. She didn't see any better idea than her biotics. Building up all the energy she had, she prepared herself. Something like this would take all her strength and concentration. She felt it building to past a natural point, and started rushing forward. It was almost reaching a breaking point, but she couldn't release it yet; the reapers were still too far apart.  
_Not yet… not yet…almost… NOW!_  
Just at the last moment, she realized Motch and Ellen would be destroyed by her powers. Just in time, she was able to alter the beginning of her field, hopefully enough to let them survive, albeit with a few bruises.  
A completely transparent-blue tinted 'wall' left her and swept forward. It reached Ellen and Motch, and she heard a violent crack as the two flew in the air. _No! Please don't be bone!_ The 'wall' went forward, gathering intensity and then annihilating the reaper forces. Lina dropped to her knees and almost blacked out.  
She just stayed on the ground, not wanting to get up. She didn't care if there were more reapers, she'd had enough. She just wanted to sleep, and for it all to be over. _What am I even doing here? Why do I always get pulled toward such situations? Maybe it's in no small part due to Tarn- _She stopped the thought, for it was too painful to continue. She still couldn't believe he sacrificed himself for them and more importantly, they didn't go back for him. _Why didn't they go back? Oh, goddess, just take me now, while I'm at peace._ But instead, it was someone else.

"Lina?" Ellen was standing above her. "Lina, get up. You did a pretty good job with those reapers… c'mon Lina." She said, as she pulled Lina up.

"Anyway, nice work! What was tha- nevermind, I probably wouldn't understand it. But seriously, that was awesome! And you didn't really hurt us. Well, not permanently, at least. Although, I don't know what's up with Motch. Maybe you hit him some special way. He'll probably be up in no time though. And hopefully without the craziness."

"You're… okay?"

"Yeah, of course."

They walked over to Motch, who was lying face-down on the ground. He seemed pretty peaceful for a krogan who had been in blood rage a few moments before.

"Oh, and Lina, if you find my katana, tell me. I lost it when that blast hit me."

_So that's what the sword's name was._ She could never remember it. Looking at Motch again, she noticed he was a bit to peaceful…and he seemed to be on something yet.

"Ellen, is… is Motch still breathing? I don't think… please tell me krogan can survive not breathing!" She said, starting to panic.

"Wait, wait, wait, calm down! Okay, let's carefully turn him over, see what we can do." Ellen was calmer, but Lina still sensed unease in her voice.

They both got down, and pushed his body over. Lina took one glance and had to look away to not loose whatever was left in her from her last meal.

Ellen's sword had been broken in two, with each piece sticking in Motch, one just under the skull plate, one opening a huge flesh wound across his throat. Lina had to do everything not to throw up, or go into an emotional breakdown.

"No, no, no, no!" She heard Ellen behind her. That was followed by some kind of 'charging' sounds, which Lina recognized as the military grade, omni-tool defibrillator. Then again. And again. Then nothing, until…

"Damnit! Lina, did you… why would you… do you know how much trouble you're in?" Ellen shouted at Lina.

"I didn't mean to!" She said, almost breaking out in tears. "I just… had to… to save you guys!" sobs now starting to pop up between words. "I …had no …idea!"

"Okay, Lina. Calm down. I'm just getting a little stressed out here. I didn't mean to snap. You would never do this. But seriously, how _did_ this happen?"

"I… don't know… I just… sent that wave…out and…." She said, trying to take control of herself.

"Lina, listen to me. This wasn't your fault. You couldn't have done this. And we will get out of here alive, and our mission completed."

Lina had no idea how Ellen was able to say that so calmly, and it seemed to have an effect on Lina too. She calmed down a bit, and was able to stop sobbing. Usually Lina was one to comfort others, but these last few hours had been a bit too much for her.

"Thank you, Ellen. I really needed that." She said, composing herself again. "So…."

"Well, my guess is that my katana got him in a freak accident. It might be hard for the mission report, but then again, all of this will be. Sound good?"

"Yes. But, what will we do now."

"Well, you look like you need rest. I don't think the reapers would attack again right away, so maybe you could get an hour or two in. I'll keep watch. I also need to find a replacement for my katana. I do believe I could… program something." She said, looking at her omni-tool. "Then we'll get to the first device and shut it down."

_Oh right, the devices! _Lina had almost forgotten their primary objective. Or the fact they had been steering Motch in the direction of the first one. It shouldn't be too far, but as Ellen said, she was beginning to feel very tired.

"Well, if I'm going to sleep, I'd like to find a good bed." She said, pointing at one of the buildings. She wasn't over what just happened, but right now she was too tired to do anything.

"Mhm." Ellen replied, now completely engrossed with her omni-tool. She even had a second holo-keyboard and was tapping at her keys like a maniac.

Lina and Ellen went to a nearby building, easily finding a comfortable bed. Well maybe not really, but relative to what Lina had been sleeping on the last few weeks, it was paradise. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was Ellen trying out her first omni-sword, which seemed way to short in Lina's opinion.

"Hey. Hey, Lina. Time to get up. We should get going." Ellen said gently.

"Muuuhh." Was it time to go already? She had just closed her eyes!

"C'mon, seriously. We don't have time for this."

Ellen was right, they were still behind enemy lines. Using one of her biotical focusing techniques, she built enough energy to jolt herself awake.

"Okay, okay. I'm up." She said, jumping out her bed, ready for whatever lay ahead. "So… what do we do?"

"I was able to give it some thought while you were sleeping. We're about a kilometer away from our target. Normally, the captain had specialized software to hack and disable the reaper device. But with our low numbers, and the fact that reapers are infamous for their indoctrination, I'm opting for another plan. We just blow the thing to hell and back. I'm guessing that's what Tarnik had in mind when we had to loot the warehouse."

"If you say so. Let's not waste any time." Lina followed Ellen out of the building, surprised at how dark it was. It must've been about middle of the night in Benning. She probably slept more than she thought, which was surprising considering all her…troubles.

Ellen led the way, with Lina beside her.

"So… do you have a good omni-sword?" Lina asked. Ellen sighed.

"How many times? It's a katana. And it's nothing like the original. But, I got something up and running that just might work. Check it out." She stretched her arm out and a _katana_ holographically appeared in her hand. She swung it a few times and did a few tricks, all while still walking and seeing where she was going.

"Pretty neat, huh? I do have to say, this is one of the coolest things I have ever made. It won't last though. It takes an enormous amount of energy to power. Speaking of which, you don't have any extra external power cells, do you?"

"It's your lucky day. I found this at the warehouse." Lina said, bringing out her last remaining item from there.

"Thanks. I might need this if we get into longer fights again."

"So, do you have enough explosives? I used all mine, remember." Lina asked.

"Yeah, I think I have enough. But seriously, everything? You couldn't keep it down some?"

"It wasn't my fault! I just had-"

"It's alright! Just try to be careful and take your time next time."

"You don't always _have_ time."

"True. Good thing I've got a detonator then. C'mon, down this way."

Ellen led her down some stairs. The signs hanging around told her they were headed to some square. Getting down the flight of stairs, she got a clear sight of the square.

"Where… is the device?" Lina asked.

"Intel says at the square, so do readouts. It should be… yeah, I think I see it."

"That small thing? But it's tiny!"

"C'mon Lina, I would think you read the reports and briefings. It's clearly mentioned that those things vary in size."

"I can't recall seeing anything about reaper devices… but this is ridiculous! I could carry it under my arm!"

"Yeah, but it would probably indoctrinate you first." They walked up to the device, which was very alien to Lina. Still, it looked really small.

"Help me set up the charges." Ellen said, already getting explosives out. Lina took two, and placed them near the device. That's when she heard the humming.

"Uhh, Ellen? I think that thing is on."

"All the more reason to hurry."

"But, what if it indoc-"

"It won't."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Truth be told, it might be trying now. But I think indoctrination takes days, if not weeks. And like you said, it's just a small device."

"And what about protection? You think it has shields?"

"I don't know, but there's one way to find out." Ellen reached out to touch the object.

"No!" Lina shouted. "Sorry." She added, realizing how loud she was. "I just think it might be best to… you know, not touch it. Maybe shoot at it or something. Anyway, it might have a barrier that only protects against high-velocity objects."

"Okay, then." Ellen said, getting out her gun. "Let's hope there are no reapers around."

Ellen shot the object once, and nothing stopped the bullet. It just dinged off the object, which now seemed to be humming louder.

"Are the charges set?" Lina asked, starting to worry.

"Almost, I just need to set up this last one." Ellen replied, bending down to finish her work.

"Okay. Let's get to a safe range and then blow this thing." Ellen said, getting up and pointing in the intended direction. They started off at a jog, but Lina felt really uncomfortable, even with the device behind her. She started speeding up, until she was sprinting. Ellen kept up with her, not saying anything. _Maybe she's feeling as uneasy as I am._

They hurried into a side street, and kept going forward. Ellen took the lead, while Lina watched their backs. After a few turns through different streets, Lina began to feel easier. They were probably far enough now, and able to detonate the charges. Lina looked behind one more time and almost stopped dead. A few stories down and a few streets across, she saw some movement. It was reapers, but they didn't seem to know that Ellen and Lina were there.

"Ellen!" Lina quietly shouted, which seemed the wrong thing to do. Ellen took this as her cue, and pressed the detonator. Lina didn't have time to cringe as she heard the explosion in the distance. She grabbed Ellen and pulled her around a corner.

"What the hell is-"

"SSSHHH! Reapers." Lina explained.

"What do you mean?" Ellen asked, now more serious and quiet.

"I saw a group of them, a few stories down."

"Crap! Do they know our position?"

"I don't know. I don't even know if they know we're here."

"Well then, I intend to find out."

Lina wanted to stop Ellen, but before she could say a word, Ellen cloaked and presumably went to check the reapers. "No…" was all she could say. She waited there, each second stretching out into a sea of time. Then Ellen de-cloaked in front of her.

"Not good." She started, "I don't know how, but I think they saw me."

"What? How?!"

"I don't know! There was a banshee, and it seemed to look straight in my direction! We can only hope that was just pure-"

She was cut off by that horrible screech. Worse than anything she ever heard, it shook Lina to the bone. One of her own people, turned into that!

"We have to go. Now!" Ellen commanded.

They took off as fast as they could, in the direction of their next objectives. But after crossing their first street, Lina could already hear the telltale sound of the banshee's biotic charge. It was getting closer! Picking up speed, she looked over at Ellen. She had put on her mask, and now Lina couldn't see her face. Maybe she didn't want to; Ellen's own possible fear might lower Lina's morale. She kept on going, almost reaching another junction. But then the banshee caught up. It 'jumped' right into the middle of the crossroads, forcing Ellen and Lina to split.

"We have to take it down!" Ellen shouted, taking out her sidearm and readying her now holographic blade. Lina took out her own gun and tried to topple the banshee with a heavy throw. It didn't look so stable, but it just brought up a biotic shield. Her throw had no effect whatsoever. Realizing her biotics were seemingly useless, she started shooting. But the bullets, like her throw, were just sucked up in the banshee's barriers. It took a step to her, but that's when Ellen tried something suicidal. She ran up behind it, omni-sword in hand.

"Come get some, you bitch!" She shouted, raising her sword for the attack.

With lightning speed, the banshee turned around to block Ellen's initial attack with its claws. But that didn't stop her. She struck at it again and again, each time getting blocked. As with the fight with Motch, Lina was amazed at Ellen's grace and ferocity. But she didn't just stand there. Trying to help Ellen in any way she could, she shot the banshee again and again, emptying her thermal clip. It didn't seem to have much effect, it just kept blocking Ellen's strikes, but the banshee's biotic shield seemed to be dropping. Not giving up on her biotics, Lina tried another heavy throw. This time it stumbled, opening itself for one of Ellen' attacks. She took the chance and stabbed the banshee right through her middle. There was a moment of rest as Lina, Ellen and the banshee stood there, the former glad that the banshee was defeated. But it didn't fall. It just looked at Ellen, now open herself to an attack. The banshee picked her up and held her in the air for a moment. All Lina could do was watch in horror. Then the banshee returned Ellen's favour, and thrusted her claws – _right through Ellen's chest!_  
Her body went limp and was dropped on the floor.

"You damn BITCH!" Lina shouted, now enraged. Adrenaline pumping through her veins, she sent a wave of different biotics at the monster. Warps, throws, shockwaves,… anything Lina could think of, she threw at the horrible creature, resulting in multiple biotic explosions. And it seemed to work. It was pushed back, step by step, until it was backed up against the wall of a building. Even then, the pummeling didn't stop.  
After a particularly big explosion, the monster crumpled. It gave out one last pathetic scream, before it disintegrated. _You're just lucky you didn't survive to feel more of my wrath… Ellen!_  
Lina turned to rush to Ellen, but found reapers surrounding her body.

"No!" she shouted, getting ready for another fight. But before she could do anything at all, two husks dropped down and pinned her to the ground. She tried to get them off, but a third one joined them. The pinned her to the wall, where the banshee was not one minute ago._ Why are they not killing me? What are they going to… no. Please don't make me into a banshee. Please….  
_But there was nothing she could do. She was couldn't move. A marauder and two cannibals came up in front of her. This was it. The end.  
But just as she thought that, she was saved by an unknown force. An electrical pulse incapacitated the reapers in front of her, while three well placed shots took at the husks pinning her to the wall. Finally free, she lifted the remaining troops surrounding Ellen with a singularity, then destroyed them with a nice biotic explosion. Relieved she was fine, she looked around. Who had helped her?

_Hiiissssssssss!_

The sound of mini jets was accompanied by the sudden appearance of an unexpected figure out of nowhere.

"Having a bad day?" Tarnik asked.

* * *

**OK, I've got some stuff to say.**

**1) ERMAHGAWD! who would've thought, Tarnik is still alive!**

**2) Yes, I stole that last line from Citadel DLC. So what?**

**3) I'm SO sorry that I didn't upload any sooner. Please understand, I have a LOT of work (but probably not that much compared to some people), and although writing fanfic is fun, there are other ways I like to spend my time *cough* ****_masseffect _*****cough*****_ citadelDLC _*****cough*****_ reckoningDLC _*****cough*.  
No, but I do try to write each day, if I don't have to write for school projects. And I can tell you this: I will never give up on any of my stories, no matter how long it takes to upload. So don't worry if I don't update, it just means I'll take a bit longer, due to ****_stupid work_**** [face of Timmy's dad saying Dinkleburg]  
Actually, I'll post that on my profile. Go check. It's on there right now.**

**4) I don't know if you're ready for it, but next chapter will probably be my last. Just sayin'. Don't know how long it'll be yet, but I hope as long as this one, or longer.**

**5) I really like killing off my characters, don't I? But don't start panicking, I can assure you that not EVERYONE will die. Only most. Actually, just don't jump to conclusions at all. Just wait til my next update.**

**6) Shoutout to A fan (guest) and Mattihew (guest) for reviewing. Sort of stupid to shoutout to guests, but who cares?  
And I hope I didn't loose any readers due to it taking so long. Again I'm sorry!**

**7) That's about it. Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**And voila! Final and longest chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

Tarnik stood there for a few seconds, glad he was finally reunited with Lina. It might've been really selfish, but he was glad it wasn't her that the banshee impaled. Lina also stood for a few seconds, obviously caught off guard. She probably never expected to see him again, which wasn't surprising. He was amazed himself that he got this far without dying. After confusion, different emotions went across Lina's face. First it changed to relief, but that quickly switched to happiness, which changed to a blank stare, way too quickly for Tarnik's liking. Then it finally stopped at anger. _Oh great,_ Tarnik thought. She rushed up to him, shouting at him all the way.

"Where were you all this time?! Why didn't you get back sooner? We could have used your help! What were you thinking! Why'd you have to leave me - us?" she turned to face away from Tarnik, her voice making clear she was very distraught.

"Wait, did you just say… 'me'? As in you, not the team?" That's when she almost fell, with a loud sob. Tarnik jumped forward and caught her just in time.

"You were gone! I couldn't go back, I tried, I pleaded, but they took me from you. You were dead!"

Tarnik cradled Lina in his arms, playing the role of mother that she had done so many times before.

"Calm down, calm down. It'll be alright. You don't have to worry anymore, I'm fine. We're going to be fine."

They stood there for quite a while, Lina crying her heart out while Tarnik held her firmly to his chest. At that moment, he didn't care if any more reapers came. It was only him and Lina. This was a moment he would never forget… and maybe the only moment to say how he really felt.

"Lina, I'm really sorry. I just had to save the squad, but more importantly you. You know our job, you know the dangers. The mission and the people of the galaxy come first. But, I have been thinking. I also… lost contact with you guys. These last hours were the worst of my life. Not because I was on the run from those awful creatures, but I didn't even know if you escaped. I had no idea if you were okay. I was sick to my stomach about you. And with 'you', I mean '_you'_ and not the-"

Lina interrupted his monologue by putting her hand up to his face.

"Tarnik, I understand." She said, with a sniff. "You don't have to say it."

"You… you know?"

"I've noticed quite a while ago."

"But then why didn't you say anything? Do you…not feel the same way?

"Tarnik, I don't know. We're in the middle of a war and… I thought you would tell me when you felt right and… I don't know. We're just in very difficult times right now."

"What? Difficult times? That's got to be the most ridiculous…. Look, we're both out here risking our lives for the greater good. I know that. But that doesn't mean we can't be together!"

"Tarnik, please. There are more important things at hand now. Ellen was just… oh goddess!"

Lina broke into tears again, and all Tarnik could do was hold her again. Although his military instincts told him they were in danger, the tension in the air was high and there was a dead human a few meters away, he still wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Lina's body gave him warmth, but at the same time he was protecting her too. Standing out in the cold night of this human colony, he wished it could go on forever. Lina was the first one to break the silence.

"So what are we going to do now?" She asked, obviously avoiding further discussion of their previous topic.

"I guess we still have to finish the mission. You did a good job on the first device, but there's still one to go." Tarnik knew Lina would need some time to think about their latest development, so he didn't press the issue. Or at least, he thought she would need some time._ Or would she? She already seemed to know… females can be so confusing sometimes, especially the aliens! And yet…_

"As for Woods, we'll have to leave her here. I hate to say it, but she's too much of a burden."

"No! We can't just leave her for the reapers to take!"

"Well, do you have a better idea?"

"No… well, maybe. We could… cremate her body. It might be a bit rough with military tech, but humans do have it as one of their ways to…go after they die. And that way the reapers won't… take her."

Tarnik was surprised she was already so up and ready after being in tears just a few moments ago. Just another thing he admired in the woman.

"I guess I could use something…" Tarnik said, already fine-tuning his omni-tool to get the least gruesome result. His omni-tool was built for battle, its functions weren't one you'd normally use at a ceremony of the dead.  
He then proceded to copy Ellen's critical omni-tool files. They was no use wasting resources when you had the chance to salvage them.

"If it's okay, I'd like to do it now. I'll try to make it quick," he said.

Lina looked at Woods' body. She seemed on the verge of breaking down again, but she stayed calm.  
In the meantime, Tarnik started looking for all other valuables on Ellen's body. Thermal clips, explosives…  
After a few moments Lina talked again.

"Okay. I'm ready."

Tarnik made his own little prayer for her spirit, or whatever the humans believed in and then watched as her body turned to fine ash, that was then swept away in the wind. The accompanying light of his incineration tech was gone after a second. He got up and took Lina by the hand so they wouldn't stay any longer than they needed to.

"You know, I haven't been around the last few hours, so I have to ask. Where in the world is Motch?"

"He's… dead."

"Damnit! Him too?" Tarnik frowned. "Do I even want to know what happened?"

"The reapers had ambushed us. First it seemed like they were too much, but then I… kinda used all my explosives. They then seemed to be way less in strength. I don't know, but I think they were retreating."

"I thought I heard something a few hours back. I had just lost some reapers on my tail, but found another group passing by. I couldn't let the opportunity go, I thought it would be best to ambush them. The explosion was an excellent distraction, really made my job a lot easier."

"That's the second time… but anyway, after that, it all seemed ok, but Motch… wasn't himself. He had gone crazy and attacked Ellen. I… well, I didn't mean to, but… there was an accident and I… killed Motch."

"What?! You wouldn't… look, this isn't your fault."

"How do you know? You weren't there! I was-"

"No. Lina, you're the most compassionate person I know. You wouldn't intentionally ever kill someone without good reason. The fact that Motch is dead, is due to this mission getting screwed up. If anything, I should've been there. Motch was getting out of control and was my responsibility. Even if I wasn't there, I was still alive, so if anything, it's my fault. You didn't do anything wrong."

Lina just listened, and afterward kept silent. She would need some time to recover, that was sure. She was a strong woman, but this…failure of a mission could get to the best of soldiers. Realizing it was probably best to change the subject, he broke the silence again.

"I guess you're probably wondering where I was this whole time?" She didn't say anything, but simply nodded. "Well, it's quite a story. I'm guessing you didn't leave first like I told you and saw my… great leap?"

Again, Lina said nothing, but just nodded.

"Well, yeah. That really hurt, but I couldn't stay. More reaper troops were coming, so I started dodging in and out of buildings, not really looking where I was going. It's easy to run if you don't have a squad. But the reapers kept up the pressure."

Finally Lina spoke again. "You couldn't use your jets? Or how about your cloaking systems?"

"No, they both were badly damaged from that praetorian laser. It still hurts like hell, I think I'm going to have a burn on my back for weeks. I'm just glad I'm alive. That laser really did almost everything – burned out my shields, took out half my jets, most of my cloak… hell, the built in medi-gel dispensers weren't working. I really hope that burn isn't infected. I had to aply medi-gel manually, but that was only way later."

"Tarnik, I think I should look. It sounds serious."

"Yeah, well you can't really do it now. We need to keep on the move, and I'd prefer to stay in the safe zone of my suit. I know you can't resist checking out my body, but it'll have to wait."

"Ah, Tarnik!" Lina groaned, pushing him away. A small smile told Tarnik that she was at least still okay, and enjoyed his joke.

"So anyway, this went on for a bit. Me going from house to house, trying to shake those bastards. I knew I had to get my gear up and running. My jets could only help with a decent, and if I wasn't careful, they'd flip me over. My tactical cloak was horrible as well, it only worked on my legs and part of my right arm. Not really that useful. My escape from them was actually pretty much like my escape from the warehouse. I found a huge area between two blocks of buildings, then made another great jump, followed by a nice bone-cracking fall. Not one of my best moments.  
But the gap I crossed was sufficient. The reapers couldn't pursue, not without leaving most of their force behind. I kept going for a while though, to be sure. Then I got my systems back up and running, applied medi-gel where needed, and took off in the direction of the first mission objective. I hoped I would find you guys there, or at the next one, but then I noticed I had been running away in the opposite direction. Not only that, but more reapers popped up.  
At least this time, I had my suit working. Tactical cloak works a long time in non-battle circumstances, no shields and all, but that's when I came across the reaper patrol. The same patrol that was distracted by the blast. They weren't that hard to take down, but more seemed to keep on coming. Eventually I had to flee again, with the reapers on my tail. Again, my tactical cloak came in really handy. And that is when I finally came close to that first device. Thank the spirits not too close, cause that's when you detonated the charges. Realizing you must be close, I tried to contact you, but my radio systems still weren't working too well. Luckily, I then saw you fighting the banshee. You did well to take it down, but then those other reapers came. You're just lucky my Mattock has this scope installed."

"Well, that is quite a story. Nice shots by the way."

"Some of my best." Tarnik said, with a grin.

"But you said your radio isn't working? Shouldn't you get that fixed?"

"Yeah, I've been working on it. Especially now that we're back together. I close to each other. No! I mean-"

"You're so funny when you get embarrassed. Calm down."

Tarnik just started working on his radio again, pretending like the last bit didn't happen. _Oh spirits, I suck. Why can't I just be smooth around the ladies?_

He kept on working on his radio, while he and Lina went to the next and last device. After a few minutes, he thought he got somewhere.

"Hey Lina, go ahead a bit, I think I got the radio working again."

She jogged up further, so she could easily make a distinction between Tarnik's normal voice and his voice on the radio.

"So, testing 1,2,3… this thing work?" Tarnik asked.

"Loud and clear." Lina replied.

"Well, I-"

CRASH!

Tarnik had his Mattock deployed and ready in less than a second. Something big had just fallen in an alleyway they just passed, something that wouldn't fall by itself.

"Tarnik?"

"Get back here. I just heard something in a nearby alleyway."

Lina rushed over, gun in one hand, the other ready to release her biotics. Tarnik might've been turned on, or at least looked at her, but in critical situations he was always able to put his head in the game, no distractions. They got to the entrance of the alley. The fact that it already was night, and the alley was covered made it very hard to see. Tarnik put on his helmet and activated his night vision, while Lina turned on her gun's light. There was nobody there. Not that he could see right away, at least. A garbage can had been knocked over, that was probably the sound he heard. But where is the thing that caused it? The can's original position would've been somewhere on the wall… right where a ladder was. Something must've come down and knocked it aside or something. But if it were reapers, wouldn't they be all over them by now?

"Be careful." He warned Lina.

Probably not reapers, but then again… maybe some new assassin-type reapers? Or some variant of the geth hopper that he heard about? Strange, he hadn't come across any geth on this colony yet. What could it be? Wait. _Did that shadow move? By the doorway?_

"Lina," he said, now whispering over the radio, "I think I saw something move by the doorway over there. Think you could put a stasis over that area?"

She looked at him, then at the doorway and nodded. The strange sound of a biotic field was followed by a soft blue glow from the edges of the stasis bubble, just popping out around the corner. Tarnik slowly walked up to the doorway. Nothing yet…

THUMP!

Something hit the ground hard behind Tarnik. He spun around to see Lina flat on the ground, with a human sprawled over her. He tried to get up, but Tarnik was faster. He grabbed the human by the scruff of his neck, took him off Lina and slammed him against the wall. The human grunted, and slumped down to the ground. Taking a step back, he aimed his rifle. It wasn't a normal reaper soldier, but he just attacked Lina, so Tarnik stayed alert. Standard procedure said he couldn't kill him, yet.

"Who are you?" He shouted at the human, making sure his translator was on. It was one of the only suit functions _not_ destroyed or damaged by the praetorian.

"Owwww, my head!" he moaned, "why would you do that..." The human looked up and squinted his eyes. He probably couldn't see too well in the dark, but he was able to make out the gun in Tarnik's hands. "Whoah, shit! Calm down there! Don't shoot me!"

"I'll ask again: who are you?" Tarnik said a second time, still angry. Lina had managed to get up and was standing next to him.

"I'm Sam Tennyson! I'm just trying to survive here, please don't shoot me!"

He seemed genuinely scared, so Tarnik lowered his gun. The fact remained that he could turn on them at any moment, so he remained alert.

"Why did you attack us? What are you doing out when it's so dark? What did you even do exactly?"

Sam started talking very quickly, obviously filled with some human hormone that got him nervous and hyperactive.

"Well, I was with my friend Johann, you see. We were returning to our…house, back from a small supply raid. Then we heard you guys, so we headed to the roof, 'cause we didn't know if you were… reapers, you know? I went up first, but Johann panicked and fell when he tried to climb up, knocking over that garbage can. I was going to go down when I heard that you were coming, so I went up and he hid in the doorway. Then when I saw you weren't reapers, I thought it would be alright. But then you did something to the doorway, and I couldn't let you just kill Johann! So I just kinda… jumped on your friend here."

"And that really hurt, may I add!" Lina said, slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, well it hurt me too, but I'm sorry. Now please tell me you can undo what you did to Johann?"

Tarnik looked at him skeptically. It could all be true what he said. But then again, people could always hide parts of the truth too. Still, might as well check if he was right.

"Lina, check if there really is another human. If there is, you can free him of his stasis and escort him here."

Lina left, but the human called Sam seemed to get more worried.

"Why, you're not going to kill us are you? Execute us against the wall in cold blood? You're not indoctrinated are you? Please don't be, I've been through too much to die now. I-"

"Spirits be damned, will you just shut it?" Tarnik didn't actually know what he was going to do with him yet, but he didn't need to know that. The human was just a bit to energetic to Tarnik's tastes.

"Ahhhh!"

THUD

_That would probably be his friend,_ Tarnik thought.

"Hey, what are you- augh!"

_And that was probably Lina._ Sure enough, another human was dragged around the corner a few seconds later. The 'Sam' human started up again.

"See, that's my friend Johann! Can you please-"

"I already asked you once to shut it. It would be wise not to make me ask again," Tarnik said. He was beginning to feel uneasy about acting like this, but he was still mad over the way he attacked Lina, and the fact remained that they could be dangerous.

The second human started talking this time. "If you don't mind my asking, who are you guys?"

Tarnik looked over at Lina and Lina looked back. He wasn't sure if he should just give away that information, but then Lina told him: "Tarnik, I think you're getting a little paranoid. These are just regular civies, can't you see? If you won't tell them I will."

Tarnik again almost doubted if it was a good idea, but if Lina, who was the one that was attacked, could forgive them, so could he. There was supposed to be a resistance here, after all, maybe they knew more.

"We are the… remains of a special task group. We were sent to Benning to deactivate two reaper indoctrination devices, after meeting up with the local resistance. They were not at the rendezvous point, and we have already lost three members of our group and our shuttle pilot, along with the shuttle. But we have already managed to shut down one device, and were now on our way to the next, when… you two 'interrupted'."

The two humans looked in amazement. They really didn't seem to be intent on attacking Lina and Tarnik anymore, so Tarnik finally start to calm down. He still couldn't help the feeling that he should still be wary of signs of them being indoctrinated.  
Johann started talking first.

"Wow. We were in the resistance a few weeks back, but left because we thought it was too dangerous. Never thought they'd send someone to help us, but I'm not surprised the resistance didn't show up. Probably all dead now, poor bastards."

There was a moment of silence. Then Tarnik spoke again.

"Well, if you're trying to survive, you go and do that. We still have our mission."

"Tarnik!" Lina said, "Can't you see they can't possibly survive for long? We have some extra supplies if you need anything: food, drinks, weapons…"

The two humans looked at each other, then back at Tarnik and Lina.

"Well, I think you'd be surprised how long we could survive." Johann said, pulling out a gun that was previously tucked away under his shirt.

"Lina, watch out!" Tarnik shouted, as he charged his omni-tool for an overload. No sense in killing an asset you could use. He aimed at the second human and-

"Woah, woah, WOAH!"

"WAIT!"

"Don't shoot!"

"Calm down!"

Both humans were shouting through each other, it was hard to make out who said what. They were also both using their hands to cover their faces, the previously concealed gun now on the ground.

"What was that?!" Tarnik asked, outraged, "Were you trying to kill us, or get yourselves killed?"

"No! We were just saying we can take care of ourselves!" Johann replied, now very scared. "We didn't mean any trouble!"

Tarnik eyed the two viciously. He wasn't about to let it slide, but Lina put her hand on his shoulder. Her face said it all. Tarnik sighed. _Alright, I'll calm down, if only for Lina._

Suddenly the Sam human piped up: "Now might not be the best time to mention I also have a gun?"

Tarnik stared at him and sighed again. _These guys will get us killed, whether they're indoctrinated or not._

"But anyway, maybe we could use some food supplies? If you really think you could spare some?"

Tarnik wasn't in the mood to answer, but luckily for the humans Lina took over.

"Yes, we always take more than needed, and now that most of our squad is… gone, we have plenty left over." She began handing some of their levo-amino rations over. "It is military grade stuff, so it might not taste that good to you people."

"That's alright, we're just glad to get something."

"Well, if that's all, we better get going." Lina said, "We've wasted enough time already." Tarnik laughed at that last bit. They turned around to go, but were stopped by a call from one of the humans.

"Wait! If you're going to disable a reaper device… well, maybe we could help?"

Tarnik gave them a dead stare and curtly answered: "No."

Sam tried to convince him: "But c'mon, we could help! We know the city pretty well! We have our own weapons! We're willing!"

Lina looked over at Tarnik, worried, then back at the humans.

"This isn't some simple game. We've already lost 3 trained soldiers. I'm not sure if you two could handle it."

Then Johann spoke up, in a serious tone: "Look, Lina was it? This is our colony, our home. We don't like seeing aliens just take this place over. If we could help, then we want to. The resistance never got anything done, and we thought we could do more on our own. We're starting to not care about ourselves anymore. We're the only part of our pasts we have left. We'd rather die fighting that live doing nothing."

Tarnik and Lina were both amazed by his speech, and stood there for a few seconds, not knowing what to say. Tarnik still had a bad feeling, but you couldn't just make something up so quickly like that? Would they really help, and be useful? He was still thinking about it when Lina made the decision.

"I guess… you can come. But you have to follow our every order, whatever they may be. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" They said together, both saluting in an awkward fashion. They obviously didn't know anything about military life. But nothing could be done about it now.

"All right then," Tarnik concluded, "since we seem to have a new commanding officer, we might as well get on with it and finally GET GOING!"

"You'd better do what he says," Lina added, "He can get pretty angry." She finished with a smirk.

She knew he wasn't mad at her. Not that he could ever really be mad at her, but she had just undermined his command, in front of – he thought with an inward growl – new squad mates. It wasn't her place to do such a thing, but it was done now. The most important thing to do now was focus on the final objective.

It had taken them about 30 minutes to get to the next device. It might've been longer, but the humans proved they did know the city, and took them on some shortcuts. In the meantime, they had been rather silent themselves, but Lina told them most of what happened in their mission. Again, something Tarnik would have preferred her not to do, but at this point he didn't think it would make much difference. They also got some thermal clips, if the need would arise. They kept their low-grade weapons though, partly because they were used to them, partly because they weren't trained enough to handle military-grade weapons. Another thing they thankfully didn't get, were the explosives. That was still reserved for Tarnik and Lina.  
The humans' knowledge also came in handy when they heard of the target site. As with the first site, it was an open area, with little to no cover. The humans would stay by the entrance and exit street, while Tarnik and Lina set up the charges. It seemed like a solid plan. Until they arrived.

About a block away, they already heard they wouldn't be the only ones. The reapers had obviously gotten here before them, probably to defend the device. Only a street away from the square, Tarnik ordered the others to stay back.

"I've got cloaking tech," he explained to the humans, "makes it easier to spy on them."

Lina however, was looking extremely worried.

"What is it?" he asked, knowing he couldn't just let it go by.

"Nothing, it's just… be careful, okay? Ellen had a tactical cloak too, but I think they somehow spotted her. I'm just not sure if it's safe."

"Hey, I stayed out of their reach this long. I don't plan on dying now."

Lina looked a little comforted, if only just. Tarnik couldn't stand seeing her like that, but he had a job to do. He turned around and cloaked before he would get second thoughts. He thought for a moment, then turned off his shields along with any unnecessary suit functions. It would give his cloak more time to be active and less emissions to be detected.  
He snuck from building to building, finding the best spot to spy on them. After a few, he finally went inside one. He hid against the wall to let his cloak recharge and then started watching the reapers, trying to find weaknesses. There was a banshee commanding quite a few marauders and cannibals, supplemented by husks. At least 3 platoons' worth, not something they could take head on. He kept looking for something to exploit. After a few minutes with no results, he decided to message back to the team. He went against the wall again and reactivated his communications.

Bleep! Bleep!

_Damnit!_ Someone had messaged him, and he had foolishly not muted his omni-tool when he started it up again. No time to check the message, he needed to make sure the reapers didn't notice him. He cloaked again, dearly hoping they hadn't heard anything.

_Shit!_

2 platoons of marauders, cannibals and husks along with the banshee had left the square, and were coming in his direction.

_Damn, damn, DAMN! What do I- wait._

They didn't really seem to be coming towards him. Instead they veered off a bit to the left, away from him.

_It must be some patrol or something, but why would they send so many? They're not headed in my squad's direction… oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter._

They now had a chance to attack, before the two platoons got back. _I should message the team. And maybe check my messages, he thought._

The message that nearly compromised his stakeout turned out to be a worried message from Lina, wondering where he was. Although, blaming the message or Lina was hardly justified. He was the one who forgot to mute his omni-tool. It was his fault, really. Either way, they had to get over, ASAP. He sent a message back, ordering them to get to a rally point, but not to be seen. The last bit was obvious, but one could never be too sure with civies.

He cloaked and got to the point, just as the others arrived.

"Okay, here's the sitrep," he told them, "two platoons worth of reaper ground troops, along with a banshee just left the square, I don't know what for. They were headed away from us, so don't worry. One platoon is still there, but I think we now have a chance. I'm sure we can all handle this." He tried to go over it as fast as possible, he wanted it to be over with before the two extra platoons returned. "Hopefully the device will be gone before they get back. The plan still stands: you two," he pointed at the humans, "stand guard here. We'll take care of the reapers and set the charges. Keep our exit open, unless you hear exact orders otherwise."

"Hey, Tarnik…sir! Good luck," Johann said.

Tarnik eyed him, then replied with a: "And good luck to you, soldier."

He and Lina snuck into a nearby house. The window would give them temporary cover, and since there was no glass, they could hop over to get into the square after they did a surprise attack.

"I'll set up for the first shot," he whispered to Lina, "After I fire, you hit them with your biotics and I'll close in, keeping the fire off you. Just hit them with all you've got."

"Roger that," she answered.

They got below the window sill and Tarnik cloaked. He cloaked and set up his first shot, aiming perfectly at one of the remaining marauders' head. _Finally we won't be the surprised ones,_ he thought, as he pulled the trigger.

The first shot landed perfectly in the marauder's skull. That is, it would if not for their damn shields. He let a few more shots fly as he saw a blue glow appear next to him.

There was no doubt that they could react very quickly. Not even fazed by their surprise attack, they had already begun shooting in their direction. _Time to take the pressure off Lina_. He vaulted over the window sill starting to feel some bullets hit his shields. He knew he couldn't last long like this, so he set his Mattock to full auto and powered his jets. His 'stunt' sure took the pressure off Lina, and was just barely keeping himself alive. Jumping in huge leaps and using tons of thermal clips, he was just able to keep his shields up enough to stop any bullets that could hit him. A moving target wasn't easy to hit, especially if that target is flying all over the place and shooting back at you. But his tactic wouldn't last forever. He would either need to find cover, or they had to take down the reapers before he'd be a flying corpse.  
He was doing his best to hit the clustered cannibals, but it wasn't going to well. Boosting and stopping every two seconds, along with the fact that his mattock wasn't really built for full auto took a toll on his accuracy. Furthermore, husks had started coming at him. They were closer range and easier to hit, but the cannibals remained unharmed and were able to shoot at him as much as they wanted. _And now my back's starting to get sore again. Damnit, Lina, what are you doing?_

He slammed his gun into a husk that got to close, and checked the window where he previously was. Lina had left it now as well, and was plowing through husks and cannibals from a small bit of cover.  
_That's my girl,_ he thought with a smile._ Now time to get rid of –_ he shot a husk that got a little too close – _these damn –_ another husk shot –_husks!_ A whole group had gotten clustered, which was a perfect opportunity for a well placed overload. They all went down like flies that hit a bug zapper, but at a price. He seemed to have pulled something, and now his back pain was really flaring up. He knew he couldn't stay out there, and headed back to the buildings. With a final jet boost, he flew through another glassless window.

_Good thing I landed on my stomach,_ he thought. His back was really hurting. Not on fire – at least not yet – but still very painful. He grabbed for a stim pack in his belt. He didn't have many with him, but there couldn't be a better time to use one. He finally got one out and jammed it in his thigh.

Ahhhh! The rush was followed by a numbing of his backside. He felt the pain a lot less now, but he knew it was still there. That meant he would definitely have to get it checked as soon as possible, and that it would hurt like hell when the stim's effects wore off. But he needed it now to focus on the battle at hand. Again, he vaulted over the window sill. Lina had done well to hold off the enemy, but they weren't done yet. Him leaving for a moment had made the reapers split up and now a group was closing in on Lina. _Yeah, that's not going to happen,_ he thought. He cloaked and set his thrusters too their maximum. He planned to do another cloaked air drop, just like the old days in the 26th. Some reapers had seen him cloak, and were now firing in his general direction, but not close enough. They couldn't stop him as he got up to the group getting close to Lina's position and brought hell down on them.

He started with a chain overload, taking out any shields that they might have and even incapacitating some enemies. He then came down with all the force he had, sending out a shockwave on impact. Lina had seen her moment and threw some other reapers through the air. Tarnik set his gun back to semi-auto and started shooting the shocked marauders and remaining cannibals.

Once they were down, he could focus on the other, further away troops. He set his gun to auto, cloaked again and boosted towards them. They had no chance to survive as his gunfire went straight through any shields, backed up by Lina's biotics. After half a minute, all enemy troops in the square were down.

"Few! Nice work, Lina!" Tarnik said.

"You too. Nice… dive to cover you made."

"Yeah, had to use a stimulant pack. My back started acting up again. And no, we won't do anything about it now," he said, before Lina could complain. "Let's just set the charges and go. Then we can maybe get it checked out."

They went to the middle of the square, where the device was emulating some strange noise and signal. It was definitely a little bit creepy.

"This is bigger than the last one," Lina remarked.

It did reach to Tarnik's shoulders, but when he thought in comparison to the things that made it, it was a speck of dust.

"Let's just hope this doesn't have shields like the last one," she continued.

"I'll use enough explosives to make sure that it doesn't even matter," Tarnik answered. "But no reason to be in the dark."

He got up from the explosives he was priming and to a shot off at the device. It didn't seem to do anything, but Lina took a step back.

"It's alright, Lina. Can you help me set these up?"

She got down and primed the rest of the charges with him. They finished and both got up.

_Just great, what now?_ Tarnik thought as he saw the humans come running through the street. _I knew I couldn't trust them to stay there._ But then he saw why they were running like maniacs. They were running away. The banshee he had previously seen leave the square was charging behind them, behind her the two other platoons. _Ah, crap._

"MOVE!" He shouted, also alerting Lina if she hadn't seen it yet. "To that exit street!" he commanded, pointing to another way out. He took a few shots off at the banshee until the humans came close to him. He then turned and boosted ahead to make sure it was safe. It wasn't. A group of marauders was coming up through the street and opened fire as soon as they saw him.

"BACK! This exit is overrun! To the West exit!" That was there last hope. Otherwise, they would make their stand in the square, and if worst came to worst, he would detonate the charges. Firing back at the marauders, he boosted backwards, then did a 180 degree turn and went ahead of the group again. This was their last chance to escape, but the spirits didn't seem to be watching over them. As Tarnik neared the last street, he saw multiple figures. This time it wasn't any marauders or cannibals, but husks. Maybe they could break through them, seeing that husks were usually really fragile. These looked even skinnier than most husks.

That's when Tarnik noticed they weren't the only ones. Almost all the windows of the nearby buildings were occupied by more…husks? _Wait a moment,_ Tarnik thought,_ those aren't husks, they're-_

"YEEHAW, THE CAVALRY HAS ARRIVED!" came a shout from the street. It was the resistance, finally appearing after not showing any trace for so long.

Tarnik had to jump aside as he saw the leader had brought up some chain gun and was powering it up. As soon as his first shot was released, the whole square lit up through massive gunfire. It seemed each resistance member had brought something with them, and was releasing their fury on the reapers. It was a great feeling to finally have some backup, but they couldn't have all the fun. Tarnik turned and started firing as well. His team was clear from most fire and made their way over to him, before turning and firing themselves. They had perfectly drawn the reapers out into a kill zone, but they were still fighting back viscously. The reapers tried returning fire, but none of their shots came near Tarnik or his team. There were simply too many resistance members that were spread out and the reapers didn't have enough guns.

While most of the ground troops were dying, the banshee somehow stayed alive. It began charging up at Tarnik's team and did not die. If Tarnik knew anything about biotics, he would say it refilled its barriers with each jump, but that didn't help him in this situation. Some of the resistance was now shooting at it, but not enough to take it down. Tarnik himself tried everything he could think of, overloading the barriers and shooting it to bits, but that didn't help much either. Lina's biotics were hitting it, but didn't seem to affect it somehow. If they didn't do something soon, they'd be in big trouble.

That's when the resistance came to their aid, a second time in a matter of minutes. A bulky human came up beside them, pulling out some rocket launcher.

"Eat missiles, you bitch!" he said, as he pulled the trigger. That was followed by a blast powerful enough to knock Tarnik back, and some other people down. _Thank the spirits those explosives don't really react to outside factors,_ was all Tarnik could think. _Some humans act way to fast, like at relay 314. Some of them just need to calm down._

That being said, the humans did their job well. The banshee went down without even getting the chance to scream and almost all other reapers were dead now, the few movements being responded to by shots from the windows. Amazingly, they had survived.

"Way to go, spiny head!" The same human said, giving his back a hard pat. Hard enough that he could feel the pain through the stim pack.

"You too," was all he replied. "Where's your leader?" he then added. _That human has some explaining to do._

"Back there. The guy with the armor and chain gun? You can't miss him."

Tarnik signaled Lina to come with him. The other two humans were already conversing with other resistance members.

Lina followed Tarnik as he marched up to the human resistance leader. He was laughing with some other human. Why? Tarnik would never know.

"Are you the resistance leader?"

"Yup, that's me. It's been me for, what? 36 hours or so?"

"Do you have any organization? Do you know who we are, what we've gone through?"

"Woah, man, calm down. I've heard something about you, I think. The spec ops team, right? Well, sorry 'bout that leaving you in the dark, we were… preoccupied."

"Preoccupied? More than half of our squad is dead now! They'd probably still be alive if you were actually competent!"

The resistance leader was silent for a moment and gave Tarnik a death glare. Something he wasn't used to, but he held his ground.

"Don't you ever… call us incompetent. We have been living through hell. Most of us aren't even trained and have lost more than everything, yet they fight. You lost half your squad? Well we lost almost everyone. So I don't want to hear you complain that we couldn't help you when the damn REAPERS ARE KILLING US!"

At this point, Lina decided it was best to intervene. "Men, please stop! We have just defeated the reapers, at least temporarily. We should be happy, not arguing. We're all just tired from fighting so long."

"Yeah, I guess." The human said, "But it's just tiring, you know? Losing so many… I don't know how much more we can take. I wasn't joking about the 36 hours, Adrian was just killed not too long ago. He was my predecessor, by the way."

"I understand." Tarnik replied. "I shouldn't have said those things. You are doing your best with limited resources, and I highly respect you and your men. I genuinely apologize."

"Ahh, it's alright. We're all on the same team, are we not? And you seemed to have just done our job for us!"

"What, you mean the device? You were going to take it out?"

"Yup!"

"Well, our charges are set, so if you don't mind moving to somewhere out of the blast zone?"

"Okay, I'll round up the men."

He turned and started shouting to all men, getting them to gather in a big group. Lina came up next to Tarnik.

"So what now?"

"I don't know. Of course, we detonate the charges, then… I guess we try to find a way off this planet, otherwise we stay and fight with the resistance until we can leave."

"I guess it's…something."

They stood there, together for a few more minutes as the resistance leader rounded up all the other humans. Tarnik didn't know if he should say any more to Lina. It was a bit calmer now, maybe they could continue their discussion they had earlier. But he didn't. _Why not? 'Cause I'm too damn uncertain of the outcome. She might really shoot me down this time._

The resistance leader returned.

"They're ready. We'll be going to a residential area we use. Not everyone together, the reapers target big groups, but still close enough for emergencies. You coming with us?"

"Yeah, we don't really have anything else to do. Our shuttle was shot down, so we can't really leave."

"Hmm. I think… well, I'll tell you later. We need to get going."

He left them to go to the front of the group and start leading them away.

"Hey guys!"

Tarnik spun around – to see Sam and Johann.

"Spirits, would you not do that? I tend to like to relax after a mission like this."

"Calm down, man. We did it! Sorry 'bout, you know. Not keeping the exit clear, and all. But it was either that, or die. You did some nice shooting. And how about the resistance eh? Finally actually doing something, I guess. Doesn't mean we'll join again, but it couldn't hurt to stay a night. I am getting pretty tired." He yawned, as if to prove his point. "So, you guys joining the resistance now, or what?"

"No, we're just going with them for a moment, then we're trying to find a way off this planet. If that doesn't work, I guess we don't really have any other choice then to sign up."

"Well, I'm sure you'll get off. Not really our thing though, you know? I even had the chance to leave, in the beginning of the war… but I thought: 'Screw that!' I don't know why, but I just didn't feel like leaving. Still don't, you know? Well it's been nice talking to you, but I want to get back on track with some friends I haven't seen in a while. See you around!"

And with that, the energetic human was off.

"Well, it was nice to see him so happy," Lina commented.

"That's one way of putting it," Tarnik replied.

"Oh, come on. They're nice people."

"Says who? We just met them and they couldn't even do one simple thing. And he's a little too hyperactive for my standards."

"Really? Too hyperactive? And it wasn't his fault he couldn't defend the exit."

"Yeah, I guess…."

Tarnik couldn't think of anything else to say. They walked a bit further, getting out of the blast zone. Tarnik was about to go looking for the resistance leader: he wanted permission to detonate the charges. Just as Tarnik was about to go looking, the resistance leader popped up beside him.

"I think we are clear of the blast zone," the leader remarked, "And we're just about in the residential area."

"I was about to say the same thing. It's okay to detonate the charges then?"

"I'll just give a heads up to everyone: don't want them to get frightened..." he typed a bit on his omni-tool, then continued: "That should about do it. You're clear to blow that device to hell and back!"

"My pleasure," Tarnik said. He got out his detonator, but hesitated for a moment. Then he turned to the resistance leader.

"You sure you don't want to do it?"

"No no, my friend. You risked yourself setting the charges, you should be the one to activate them as well."

"Well, technically Lina helped, but if you say so…"

He pressed the button, and for the fourth time in a very long day he heard a great explosion. With that, he realized how sick he was getting of the colony. _When will we finally leave? Wait, didn't he mention something before?_

"Were you saying something about us leaving this planet? Before you came back to give the all clear?"

"Yes, well, you see the thing is: We don't have any pilots. At least not anymore."

"So?" Tarnik asked. "That doesn't exactly help us, nor do I really see what that has to do with us leaving"

Lina jabbed him in the ribs. Maybe he was a little rude, but he had a point.

"I'll get to that. So anyway, we used to have two pilots. Long story short: they died." Then he added, as an afterthought: "Seems like that's all we do here."

Tarnik was waiting to hear the point, but stayed silent this time. He was a t least a little bit tactful. And he didn't want Lina to jab his ribs again. She might've done it biotically, and his hurting backside was all he needed for now.

"You see, when I say pilots, I mean they could fly. And when I say fly, I mean we had something for them to fly. More specifically I mean…" At this point, he pointed his omni-tool at a garage door, which slowly opened to reveal…"we had- and still have- the blackbird."

Tarnik and Lina were speechless. _Did this mean…_

"It's a small merc ship, but it got the job done. We couldn't use it all the time, we had to be careful the reapers wouldn't bring in heavier guns to take it down. But now, without our pilots, we can't really use it. It was originally from a turian merc, I think. We were just lucky enough to have one pilot who knew how to fly it. He taught the other, and well… I think you get it. But like I said, we can't fly it. Any VI we install might be hacked by reapers, so now it sits here gathering dust. They used to switch out between missions… that was a while ago. When the resistance still seemed to have a chance. But maybe you could use it, if you _know_ how to use it. We sure as hell don't. It might just get you off this planet, I think the original owner had it built for space travel."

Lina was still speechless, but Tarnik found something to say.

"Wow, that is… amazing. I don't know everything about ships, but I might get it working. I'll see what I can do.  
And about the resistance? I know it might seem hopeless. I know your chances don't seem that great. But you're already doing a great job of leading your people. You are all taking a stand against the reapers, and you aren't the only ones. I'm working with the alliance, as are countless other aliens. Almost all fallen colonies have each formed resistances. I don't know if you've heard, but Shepard, the human spectre, is forming alliances none thought possible. He united the krogan and turians, by the spirits! Know this when you fight: you are never alone. Not only do you have your resistance, everyone is fighting the reapers, and we will defeat them. I just know it."

"Thanks, but I don't think I'm the one who needs to hear it the most. Why don't you go check to see what you can do. I'll… find something else to do."

Tarnik went to check out the ship. It was clearly of turian design, but not standard military issue. The resistance leader wasn't kidding when he said that it was gathering dust, you could see the particles from a kilometer away! He went around to the back, where the engine was and blew off the top layer of dust. He opened the hatch, studying what lay underneath. _Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. _Tarnik had no idea of what he was looking at. _That's alright, just because I'm no mechanic, doesn't mean I can't fly this thing. _He closed the hatch and went to the cockpit. _Great. Just what I needed, another problem. _It was a one-man ship. There was no cargo bay to be seen, and the cockpit was built for one pilot. _Then again… the cockpit might just be big enough… and if so, that just gets me closer to Lina. Aww man, get your head out of the gutter. I need to see if I can fly this thing._  
He checked the controls, trying to recognize some things. Part of his training not only included flying with jets, but also with actual ships. Although this one wasn't military, it showed some similarities. With maybe a little training, he would be able to fly them out of here.

BOOM!

The sound of a grenade going off sounded around the block.

"Lina! What was that? Accidental explosion or… damn the spirits."

A husk had appeared around the corner. _It seems we can never get a break, can we? _Tarnik unfolded his Mattock and shot the husk. Then he started hearing alarms.

"Tarnik, can you fly that thing?" Lina asked.

"I don't know! I think maybe some basic stuff, but I really should have some practice first!"

Before they could argue further, Johann appeared around the corner opposite to the now dead husk.

"You two should go. NOW!"

"But, I'm not sure if I can fly this thing… and you need help!"

"If you have even the slightest idea how to fly it, you can fly it. Now go!"

"No, we came here to shut down the reaper devices and help the resistance. We can't leave now!"

"You did the first part, and you already helped us enough. There's no time to argue."

As if the spirits were trying to prove the human right, a group of reaper enemies appeared behind him.

"Watch out!" Tarnik shouted, as he opened fire, making sure not to hit Johann. Along with Lina, the small force couldn't hurt any of them before they were gone in a mix of bullets and biotics.

Lina tugged on Tarnik's arm.

"Tarnik, we have to go." She said it in a voice that made clear it wasn't up for discussion. Tarnik bowed his head in defeat.

"Johann!" he called out "Just… stay alive okay? We'll need everyone to defeat the reapers, you included."

"Yes, sir!" he replied, before turning to go defend his home and friends.

Tarnik and Lina raced to the shuttle.

"I'll go in first," he told her, "I think it'll be easier to… control the ship, yeah."

He hopped in to the cockpit, Lina following him. Another group of reaper foot soldiers, mostly cannibals came around another corner.

"Damn! Lina, put a barrier around the cockpit!"

A hum and a blue cover enveloped the cockpit as Tarnik fumbled through the ship's controls. _Where oh where? Ahh, here!_ He pressed a button, and the cockpit's reinforced glass rolled over their heads. The cannibals had begun shooting, but their guns had no affect on the relative heavy armor of the ship. Tarnik still didn't want to take any chances.

"Lina, see if you could take care of those guys while I try to start this thing up?"

Lina nodded and started glowing as she performed some of her biotic abilities. Tarnik was more focused on trying to start the ship, which wasn't the easiest thing seeing he had a moving companion in front of him. Not to mention, his stims were working off and he was beginning to feel his back pain again. He finally found the recognizable button that started the engines.

"Okay, you might want to sit back down. It's sort of hard to fly with you moving like that."

Lina got back down and Tarnik took the controls. _OK, this shouldn't be too hard. I used to be able to do it, right?_ Nervously, he activated the thrust. It gave a bit more of a shock then he expected, but they were still fine. Carefully, he steered the ship out of the garage and slowly into the sky.

"Um, Tarnik?" Lina said, "We have a harvester incoming."

_Of course. Why would I expect any different?_ There was no time to back down now. It was either them escaping, or them dying. And Tarnik wasn't planning on dying. He fumbled at the controls, and got a shaky response. The harvest closed in_OK, I need to get going, now!_ He quickly moved the ship to the side, as the harvester came swooping by, just barely missing with its cannon shots and body slam. They probably wouldn't get so lucky a second time. But apparently, they didn't have to. Tarnik couldn't see what happened, but the ships computers gave a warning flash, then told him the harvester was going down, until it hit the ground. After that, it didn't move. _What just-_

"That was a once in a lifetime shot! Almost hit you there, sorry about that! Now you get the hell out of here!"

It was the resistance leader on the ships radio. _Maybe the spirits are watching over us, _Tarnik thought. Getting out between the buildings, it was a clear shot. Setting thrusters to maximum, they shot up into the sky. Shortly thereafter, they broke through the planet's atmosphere. Tarnik started plotting a course for the nearest relay and when they got to a safe debris-free space zone, the ships FTL-drive activated and they were on their way.  
_I can't believe it. We actually made it out. We're actually still alive.  
_He looked up at Lina. Through all the excitement, he didn't realize she was sitting on his lap the whole time. It felt kind of… nice and relaxing.

"I knew we'd get out alive," he told her with a smug grin.

"I think your daring escape deserves a proper reward," she replied. Awkwardly twisting around in the enclosed space, she somehow managed to give him a kiss. Not just one on the cheek and made awkward by it being interspecies, but a full blown, mouth to mouth, maximum saliva exchanging – well, you get the picture.

"I thought you didn't know? Difficult times and all that stuff…"

"Well, I thought that if we could all die tomorrow, I don't want to regret not doing things today."

Tarnik let a happy sigh come out as he hugged Lina from the backside. His back might be burning and he might be in this cramped area, but for the first time since he heard what the term 'reaper' meant, Tarnik was truly happy.

* * *

**Soooo, hmmm what did I want to comment about this...**

**Let's see: 1) Thanks for waiting so long and for everyone who read and reviewed. It wasn't that many, but if I could entertain one other person than myself with my stories, I think I'm doing good. Anyway, I'm actually starting my final 12th grade exams right now (or whatever you want to call it), so you guys are kind of lucky I was almost done anyway.**

**2) I hope you're glad that there are survivors. I couldn't kill Tarnik, he's just too cool.**

**3) Also, I just got solo mastery in Mass Effect multiplayer, with none other than... you guessed it: Tarnik (aka turian ghost). He's a beast on the field (and a beast in the sheets with Lina, nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean know what I mean, say no more say no more :D)**

**4) It might've been the last chapter, but it (and the whole story) was way longer than I ever expected. It was fun to write, though.**

**5) This is probably it for my OC's. What I'm planning to do next is:**

**- make a timeline of EACH MISSION AND SIDEQUEST AND SO ON of Mass Effect 1 2 and 3**

**- make some short stories in the trilogy around Commander Shepard and his friends**

**- write some stuff from inbetween 1 and 2 (and possibly 2 and 3)**

**- write about my take on the ending, and post-ending (don't hate me, but I liked the extended cut endings. it'll also be destroy)**

**- and then (going further in Shepard's story) write a crossover (because who doesn't like crossovers? everyone? if so, too bad.)**

**but my next story will take a while. I have to finish exams, then I'm gone from July 1st to July 11th with no pc. But I don't think I'm going to stop writing.**

**So that was it! Read and review, stick around if my next stories seem interesting, you could even give some feedback on my plans if you want. I hoped you liked this story (why else would you read it?)**


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